THEIR-TECHNIQVE  -AND -HISTORY 
BY-  EMIL-H-RICHTER 


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PRINTS 

A   BRIEF   REVIEW   OF   THEIR 
TECHNIQUE    AND   HISTORY 


HERODOTUS.      VENICE,    I494 


COT-VRIGHT,    Igl4,    BY    HOIGHTON    Mil  KLIN    COMPANY 


ALL    RIGHTS    RESERVED 


Published  November  IQI4 


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PREFACE 

Prints  have  long  been  an  undisturbed 
domain  of  the  collector  and  scholarly  con- 
noisseur. Centuries  of  study  and  research 
are  resulting  in  the  identification  and  de- 
scription of  this  vast  amount  of  material. 
The  literature  on  prints  embodies  these 
results  in  the  form  of  handbooks,  histories, 
catalogues  for  reference,  essays,  and  special- 
izing treatises.  These  are  written  primarily 
for  the  use  of  students  and  collectors,  with 
the  elaboration  and  detail  requisite  for  this 
class  of  readers. 

Manifestations  of  a  widening  interest  are 
more  evident  every  day.  With  this  broaden- 
ing popular  interest  has  come  a  demand  for 
a  plain,  short  explanation  of  "prints."  In 
the  absence  of  such  a  brief  review  and  in 
answer  to  repeated  inquiries,  a  series  of  lec- 
tures were  prepared  and  delivered  —  some 

V 


PREFACE 

years  ago  —  by  the  writer.  These  lectures 
are  herewith  offered,  in  sHghtly  revised 
form,  to  those  interested  in  the  nature  and 
development  of  prints. 

This  little  book  is  not  a  compendium  of 
the  graphic  arts,  just  an  introduction.  Brev- 
ity and  simplicity  have  been  aimed  at,  the 
purpose  being  to  awaken  interest  and  con- 
vey initial  information  conducive  to  further 
study. 

The  charm  and  value  of  a  print  lies  essen- 
tially in  the  quality  of  line  or  tone  peculiar  to 
the  process  employed  in  its  making.  These 
cannot  be  rendered  adequately  by  the  half- 
tone illustrations  which  accompany  these 
pages.  The  prints  themselves  must  be  seen 
to  be  truly  appreciated  and  understood. 


CONTENTS 

I,    How  Prints  are  Made  ....       1 

Introductory,  1.  Bank  note  and  magazine 
illustration,  3.  Three  main  divisions  of  processes. 
Woodcut,  4.  Wood-engraving,  5.  Engraving,  6. 
Dry-point,  mezzotint,  8.  Etching,  9.  Litho- 
graphy, 10.    The  printing  presses  used,  11. 

II.   The  Origin  of  Woodcut     ...     12 

Not  a  sudden  invention,  12.  Utilitarian  ori- 
gin, 14.  The  past  reviewed,  15.  The  panel 
picture  and  its  cheap  substitute,  18.  Saints' 
pictures,  20.  Playing  cards,  21.  Increasing 
demand  for  pictures,  24.  Block-books,  movable 
type,  26.  Book  illustration  in  Germany  and 
Italy,  28.  Examples  of  early  woodcuts  :  German, 
30,  Italian,  32. 

III.  The  Early  Days  of  Engraving   .  35 

Intaglio  printing,  the  goldsmith's  niello, 
35.  Engraving  in  Germany  and  Italy,  attitude 
and  results,  37.  Anonymous  masters,  40. 
Schongauer,  41.  Early  Italian  examples,  44.  Pol- 
lajuolo,  Mantegna,  46.    Giulio  Campagnola,  47. 

IV.  Italy 49 

The  professional  engraver,  49.  Marcantonio 
Raimondi,  50.  The  publisher,  51.  Revival  ; 
Carracci,  52.  Painter-etchers,  53.  Later  develop- 
ments; Canaletto,  55.  The  classical  engravers, 
55.    Chiaroscuro  woodcut,  56. 

vii 


CONTENTS 
V.   Germany 59 

Culmination,  Diirer,  60.  Lucas  van  Leyden, 
65.  Italian  influence,  66.  Little  masters,  67. 
Woodcut :  Cranach,  Holbein,  69.  The  two 
masters,  Diirer  and  Holbein,  70.    Decline,  7L 

VI.   The  Netherlands 73 

History.  Flemish  and  Dutch  art,  73.  Engraver 
families,  commerce  in  Saints'  pictures,  75. 
Virtuosi  of  the  graver,  Goltzius,  76.  Rubens 
and  his  engravers,  77.  Van  Dyck,  78.  Cornel 
Visscher,  79.  Rembrandt,  80.  Ostade,  84.  Ruys- 
dael.  Landscape  and  animal  etchers,  85.  Italian 
influence,  decline,  86. 

VII.   France 87 

Woodcut  illustrations,  87.  Engraving,  Jean 
Duvet,  89.  The  Fontainebleau  school,  90.  Cal- 
lot,  Claude  Lorrain,  91.  Portrait  engraving, 
93.  Mellan,  94.  Morin,  95.  Nanteuil,  96.  Ede- 
linck  and  others,  97.  Nevr  processes,  100.  Color- 
prints,  book  ornamentation,  101.  Classical  en- 
graving, Wille,  104.  Italian  preeminence,  105. 
Etchers,   vignettists,   105.      Spain:  Goya,  107. 

VIII.   England 109 

Early  days,  Hollar.  English  engravers,  109. 
Hogarth,  110.  Bartolozzi,  110.  Mezzotint  en- 
gravers. 111.  Earlom,  113.  Wood-engraving: 
Bewick,  114. 

IX.   The  United  States 116 

Colonial  times;  Pelham,  Peale,  116.  Stipple; 
book  illustration,  117.  Wood-engraving,  the 
tone  engravers,  118.    Patching,  120. 

viii 


CONTENTS 

X.   The  Nineteenth  Century    .       .       .  121 

Individual  expression,  121.  Blake, 122.  Chodo- 
wiecki,  123.  A  new  era,  Constable,  Delacroix 
and  others,  124.  Turner,  126.  Wood-engraving 
and  lithography,  127.  Menzel ;  Gavarni,  Dau- 
mier,  129.  Raffet,  130.  Revival  of  etching, 
130.  Jacque,  Millet,  and  others,  131.  Etching 
versus  Engraving,  131.  Haden,  Whistler,  132. 
Meryon,  133.  Gaillard,  134.  Exacting  demands 
on  the  graphic  arts;  Zorn,  Klinger,  135.  Con- 
clusion, 136. 

Books  recommended  for  study  of  prints,  138. 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Title-page  to  Herodotus.     Anonymous  .      Title-page 

St.  Margaret  of  Hungary.    Anonymous     .       .  30 

Page  from  Ars  Memorandi.     Anonymous   .       .  30 

Page  from  Nuremberg  Chronicle.     Anonymous  30 

Virgin  and  Child  with  St.  John.     Anonymous  32 

Page  from  Hypnerotomachia.    Anonymous       .  32 

Page  from  Morgante  Maggiore.   Anonymous  .  32 

Madonna  of  Einsiedeln.     Anon.     Master  E.  S.  40 

Death  of  the  Virgin.     Martin  Schongauer  .       .  42 

Sibilla  Samia.     Anonymous 44 

Clio,  from  the  so-called  Tarocchi.    Anonymous  44 

Battle  of  Nude  Men.     Antonio  Pollajuolo  .       .  46 

Christ  between  Two  Saints.    Andrea  Mantegna  46 

St.  John  the  Baptist.     Giulio  Canipagnola  .       .  46 

Death  of  Dido.     Marcantonio  Raimondi         .       .  50 

Adam  and  Eve.     Marcantonio  Raimondi         .       .  60 

Titian.     Agostino  Carracci 52 

Madonna  and  Child.     Federigo  Barocci        .       .  54 

Torre  di  Malghera.     Antonio  Canale    ...  56 

Diogenes.     Ugo  da  Carpi 56 

Four  Horsemen,  Apocalypse.     Albrecht  Dilrer .  60 

xi 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Arms  with  the  Skull.     Albrecht  Diirer       .       .  62 

Rest  in  Egypt.     Albrecht  Ditrer        ....  62 

St.  Jerome  ix  his  Study.     Albrecht  Diirer  .       .  64 

Cardinal  Albrecht.     Albrecht  Diirer     ...  64 

Adoration  of  the  Magi.     Lucas  van  Leyden      .  66 

Tournament.     Lucas  Cranach 68 

Johannes  Zurenus.     Hendrik  Goltzius    ...  74 

Rubens.     Paul  Pontius 76 

Jan  Brueghel.     Anthony  van  Dyck  ....  78 

Gellius  de  Bouma.     Cornel  Visscher        ...  78 

Adoration  of  the  Shepherds.     Rembrandt        .  80 

The  Three  Trees.    Rembrandt 80 

Janus  Lutma.     Rembrandt 82 

ToBiT  Blind.     Rembrandt 82 

The  Spinner.     Adriaen  van  Ostade   ....  84 

The  Travelers.     Jacob  Ruysdael      ....  84 

The  Diamond.     Nicolaes  Berghem     ....  86 

Tour  de  Nesle.     Jacques  Callot        ....  90 

Le  Bouvier.     Claude  Lorrain 92 

Due  DE  Guise.     Claude  Mellan 94 

Antoine  Vitre.     Jean  Morin 94 

Pompone  de  Bellievre.     Robert  Nanteuil     .       .  96 

Philippe  de  Champaigns.     Gerard  Edelinck        .  96 

Bossuet.     Pierre  Imbert  Drevet 98 

Champs  Elysees.     Nicolas  Henri  Tardieu       .       .  100 

•  • 

Xll 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

Instruction  Paternelle.  Georg  Wille  .  .  104 
Plate  from  the  Caprichos.  Francisco  Goya  .  106 
Catharine  of  Braganza.  William  Faithorne  .  110 
The  Hon.  Miss  Bingham.  Francesco  Bartolozzl  110 
Mrs,  Carnac.  John  Raphael  Smith  ....  112 
Flower  and  Fruit  Piece.  Richard  Earlom  .  114 
Thomas  Jefferson.  David  Edwin  ....  116 
Chief  Justice  Marshall.  Asher  Brown  Durand  118 
Still-life  with  the  Peacock.  William  J.  Linton  118 
Plate  from  the  Book  of  Job.  William  Blake  122 
Home  of  a  Painter.  Daniel  Chodowiecki  .  .  124 
Inverary  Pikr.  J.  M.  W.  Turner  ....  126 
^SACUS  and  Hesperie.  J.  M.  W.  Turner  .  .  126 
Christ  Disputing  with  Doctors.  A.  v.  Menzel  128 
Cartoon  on  Louis  Philippe.  Honore  Daumier  128 
Midnight  Review.  Auguste  Raffet  ....  130 
Woman  Churning.  Jean  Francois  Millet  .  .  130 
Sunset  in  Ireland.  Sir  Seymour  Haden  .  .  132 
The  Doorway.  Venice.  James  McN.  Whistler  132 
Le  Petit  Pont.  Charles  Meryon  .  .  .  .132 
DoM  Prosper  Gueranger.      Ferdinand  Gaillard     134 

Girl  Bathing.     Anders  Zorn 134 

Expulsion  from  Paradise.     Max  Klinger     .       .  134 


PRINTS 

THEIR  TECHNIQUE  AND 
HISTORY 


HOW   PRINTS   ARE   MADE 

Prints  are  familiar  to  every  one  of  us,  and 
yet  the  subject  of  prints  is  strangely  unfa- 
miliar. If  we  look  at  a  painting,  a  piece  of 
sculpture,  or  at  a  monumental  building,  we 
know  how  these  things  came  into  being. 
Without  any  effort  we  can  see  in  our  mind's 
eye  the  painter,  with  palette  and  brushes, 
applying  the  colors  on  his  canvas,  we  can  see 
the  sculptor  thumbing  the  clay  model  on  the 
stand  before  him,  with  alternate  gentleness 
and  force,  while  the  spectacle  of  stone- 
masons and  bricklayers  at  work  is  a  matter 
of  daily  occurrence.  Likewise  are  we  daily 
face  to  face  with  prints  in  our  homes.   They 

1 


PRINTS 

are  familiar  objects  that  have  always  been 
there ;  we  are  so  used  to  them  that  we  hardly 
see  them.    But  have  we  ever  conjured  up,  in 
our  mind's  eye,  the  vision  of  an  engraver, 
or  etcher,  or  lithographer  at  work  making 
the  print  which  is  so  familiar  to  us?    It  is  a 
world,  indeed,  this  field  on  which  the  ener- 
gies of  thousands  upon  thousands  of  men 
have     been    expended,    expressive    of    the 
thoughts  of  great  masters,  expressive,  yes, 
eloquent,  of  the  changing  mental  attitude, 
the  changing  customs  and  interests  of  suc- 
cessive periods.     There  is  no   field,   I   am 
tempted  to  say,  in  all  the  realm  of  art,  more 
comprehensive,  more  broadening  than  this 
subject  of  prints.    In  order  fully  to  appreci- 
ate the  phases  of  its  development,  we  must 
find  out,  first  of  all,  what  a  print  is,  and  how- 
it  is  made. 

The  term  "print,"  as  we  use  it  here,  ap- 
plies to  any  design  conveyed  upon  paper  or 
any  similar  substance  by  means  of  pressure, 
usually  in  the  printing-press.   Prints  are  not 

2 


HOW  PRINTS  ARE  MADE 

all  produced  in  one  and  the  same  manner;  — 
if  this  statement  should  prove  surprising, 
just  open  any  magazine  on  an  illustration 
page;  then  place  beside  it,  for  comparison, 
a  new  dollar  bill.  Notice  the  even  tone  of 
black  in  the  magazine  illustration  and  the 
intensity  of  the  black,  sharp-cut,  metallic 
lines  of  the  head  on  the  bill.  It  is  quite  evi- 
dent that  these  two  examples  have  been  pro- 
duced by  different  means;  the  magazine  il- 
lustration shows  that  the  inked  lines  and 
dots  which  constitute  the  picture  have  been 
brought  upon  the  paper  with  considerable 
pressure:  the  ink  is  embedded  into  the  paper; 
whereas,  if  the  bill  is  new,  you  will  notice, 
upon  close  inspection,  that  the  ink  of  every 
line  and  dot  lies  upon  the  surface  of  the  pa- 
per. Pass  your  finger  lightly  over  some  of 
the  heavier  lines,  and  if  your  finger-tips  are 
sensitive,  you  will  distinctly  feel  these  ridges 
of  ink.  Why  this  difference?  Because  hu- 
man ingenuity  has  devised  several  waj^s  of 
obtaining  an  impression.     There  are  three 

3 


PRINTS 

such  possibilities,  which  divide  the  graphic 
arts  into  three  main  groups,  namely:  — 

Relief  processes:  Woodcut,  wood-en- 
graving; 

Intaglio  processes:  Engraving,  dry- 
point,  mezzotinting,  and  the  etching  proc- 
esses; 

Planographic  processes:  Lithography, 
and  its  derivatives.^ 

Examples  from  two  of  these  main  divi- 
sions have  just  been  under  discussion,  the 
magazine  illustration  being  a  relief  print, 
the  bill  an  engraving  on  steel,  consequently 
intaglio.  Let  us  now  devote  a  few  moments 
to  their  technical  features,  taking  first  the 
oldest  of  all  the  processes,  woodcut. 

If  we  take  a  block  of  wood,  nicely  planed, 
finish  its  face  with  sandpaper,  and  cover  it 
with  printer's  ink,  an  impression  from  that 

^  In  order  to  keep  the  subject  as  simple  as  may  be,  we 
will  leave  aside  that  vast  array  of  modern  processes  based 
upon  photography,  and  therefore  known  as  photo-mechan- 
ical processes  (half-tone,  photogravure,  and  the  like)  and 
devote  our  attention  to  the  hand  processes  only. 

4 


HOW   PRINTS  ARE  MADE 

blackened  surface  would  naturally  be  an 
unbroken,  rectangular  patch  of  black.  Now 
we  take  a  knife  with  a  strong,  short  blade, 
a  woodcutter's  knife,  and  with  two  slanting 
cuts  we  take  out  a  thin  long  sliver  from  the 
middle  of  this  blackened  surface  of  wood. 
The  residt  of  an  impression  will  now  be  a 
black  surface  with  a  white  line  where  we 
have  cut  away  the  wood.  Another  two  cuts 
parallel  with  the  first  will  result  in  another 
white  line,  or  rather  we  shall  now  have  a  black 
line,  with  a  white  space  on  either  side,  the 
black  line  being  the  ridge  of  wood  standing 
between  the  two  pieces  which  we  have  cut 
away.  Could  anything  be  simpler  than  this 
working  recipe.^  —  wherever  black  is  wanted, 
leave  the  wood  standing;  where  you  need 
white,  cut  away  the  wood.  The  same  theory 
applies  to  wood-engraving,  with  some  changes 
in  material  and  implements.  The  wood- 
engraver  uses  cross-grain  blocks  of  the  hard 
boxwood,  instead  of  planks  of  cherry  or  pear 
wood,  and  on  this  hard  surface  the  graver 


PRINTS 

replaces  the  knife.  The  graver  —  most  use- 
ful of  tools  — is  a  long,  thin,  diamond-shaped 
bar  of  steel,  ending  in  a  blunt  point  with  cut- 
ting edges;  its  wooden  handle  fitting  the 
palm  of  the  hand.  The  graver  is  pushed  for- 
ward and  ploughs  with  great  precision  across 
the  block  or  plate,  cutting  lines  of  any  degree 
of  delicacy  or  boldness.  Like  the  knife,  it 
removes  the  wood,  consequently  leaving  a 
white  line  or  dot  wherever  it  has  passed. 
Hence  the  term  "white-line  engraving," 
often  used  for  wood-engraving. 

When  we  turn  to  the  second  great  divi- 
sion, to  the  intaglio  processes,  we  find  that 
the  recipe  of  the  woodcut  has  to  be  just  re- 
versed to  fit  this  new^  proposition.  If  we 
consider  the  three  possibilities  of  printing, 
the  first,  the  relief-block,  presents,  as  we 
know,  a  series  of  flat-topped  ridges  with 
valleys  between  them.  The  tops  of  the 
ridges  print,  the  valleys  are  the  spaces 
which  are  to  appear  white  in  the  impres- 
sion. In  the  second  division,  that  of  intaglio 

6 


now  PRINTS  ARE   MADE 

plates,  —  an  engraving  on  copper  we  will  say, 
—  there  are  no  hills  and  vales,  but  a  flat 
surface  with  a  number  of  V-shaped  cuts  to  be 
filled  with  ink.  When  engraving  on  a  copper 
plate,  we  cut  with  the  graver  into  the  metal 
every  line  of  our  design  that  is  to  appear 
black.  Wherever  we  want  a  white  space  we 
are  careful  to  leave  untouched  the  polished 
surface  of  the  plate.  Having  completed  the 
cutting  -  in  (engraving)  of  our  design,  the 
plate  is  covered  all  over  with  printing-ink, 
and  this  is  rubbed  thoroughly  into  every  fur- 
row which  we  have  cut,  so  that  they  are  all 
filled  flush  with  the  surface.  The  surface  of 
the  plate  is  wiped  clean.  An  impression 
taken  from  the  plate  so  prepared  will  show 
us  a  black  line  for  every  furrow  we  have  cut. 
Small  wonder  that  the  lines  on  the  dollar 
bill  were  perceptible  ridges  of  ink,  since  all 
the  ink  in  the  furrows  of  the  plate  is  now  on 
the  surface  of  the  paper.  The  theory  of  the 
intaglio  processes  is  plainly  this:  wherever 
you  want  black  in  your  design,  cut  lines  or 

7 


PRINTS 

dots  into  the  plate ;  wherever  white  is  needed, 
leave  the  smooth  surface  of  the  plate  un- 
touched. Based  upon  this  formula,  the 
different  intaglio  processes  produce  their 
blacks  in  different  ways;  in  dry-point  en- 
graving, for  instance,  the  design  is  scratched 
into  the  metal  by  means  of  a  sharp  nee- 
dle-point, the  etching-needle.  In  tearing 
through  the  copper  the  needle  leaves  a  jag- 
ged ridge  of  copper  standing  on  the  sides  of 
each  line,  this  "burr"  retains  some  ink  after 
the  plate  has  been  wiped  clean,  and  gives 
to  the  dry-point  line  its  peculiar  velvety, 
slightly  ])lurred  appearance.  The  mezzo- 
tinter  begins  his  work  ])y  roughening  the 
whole  surface  of  the  plate  with  the  "rocker  " 
into  myriad  indentations  and  tiny  projecting 
teeth  of  copper.  The  plate  in  this  condition 
prints  a  uniform,  velvety  black,  the  deepest 
tone  obtainable.  Now  by  scraping  away  the 
little  teeth  of  copper  more  or  less  completely, 
the  design  is  modeled  at  will  in  varying 
half-tones.    The  high  lights  are  obtained  by 

8 


HOW   PRINTS   ARE   MADE 

burnishing  the  copper  quite  smooth  again. 
The  etcher,  instead  of  cutting  the  Hues  of  his 
design  into  the  copper,  trusts  to  the  corrod- 
ing action  of  powerful  acids.    Covering  his 
plate  with  an  acid-proof  etching-ground,  he 
draws  his  subject  with  the  etching-needle, 
using  just  sufficient  pressure  to  cut  through 
the  thin  film  of  ground  and  lay  bare  the  cop- 
per.  The  plate  is  then  put  into  an  acid  bath 
which  eats  away  the  metal  wherever  a  line 
has  been   laid  bare.    The   ground  is    then 
washed  off  with  a  suitable  solvent,  and  the 
plate  printed.  There  are  a  number  of  proc- 
esses   based     on     etching,    like     aquatint, 
crayon  manner,  stipple,  soft-ground  etching, 
and  others,  but  a  review,  however  brief,  of 
all  these  kindred  devices  does  not  lie  within 
the  scope  of  these  pages. 

We  have  now  reviewed  the  relief  proc- 
esses, both  dependent  entirely  on  hand 
work,  and  the  intaglio  processes,  engraving, 
dry-point,  mezzotint,  likewise  relying  upon 
manual  power  to  prepare  the  plate  for  print- 

9 


PRINTS 

ing.  In  the  etching  group  of  intagHo  de- 
vices, <i  chemical  factor  is  called  upon  to 
lessen  and  accelerate  the  work  of  the  hand. 
The  last  group  to  be  considered,  piano- 
graphic  processes,  is  based  entirely  upon 
chemical  and  physical  action.  The  drawing 
to  be  reproduced  is  made  with  fatty  crayon 
or  ink  upon  a  slab  of  a  special  varietj^  of 
limestone;  the  stone  is  then  treated  with 
acidulated  water,  and  with  gummed  water. 
As  a  result,  when  the  stone  is  moistened,  all 
those  parts  which  have  been  drawn  upon 
reject  the  water,  but  have  an  affinity  for 
printing-ink,  while  the  portions  not  drawn 
upon  have  an  affinity  for  water  and  reject 
printing-ink,  as  long  as  they  are  kept  moist. 
Neither  by  ridges  nor  sunken  furrows,  just 
from  one  plane  surface,  —  hence  the  term 
"planographic,"  —  merely  by  the  enmity  of 
water  and  fatty  ink  are  these  lithographic  im- 
pressions obtained.  Plates  of  metal  are  often 
substituted  for  stone  (zincography,  algraphy), 
but  the  process  always  remains  the  same. 

10 


HOW  PRINTS   ARE   MADE 

It  goes  without  saying  that  each  of  these 
three  possibihties  of  printing  necessitates 
presses  of  appropriate  construction;  thus,  in 
the  so-called  platten  press,  the  pressure  is 
exerted  vertically  upon  the  block  by  the  flat 
metal  plate  which  comes  down  upon  it,  on 
the  same  principle  as  in  the  letter-press  famil- 
iar to  us  all.  All  intaglio  plates  are  printed  in 
roller  presses,  in  which  the  plate,  laid  on  an 
iron  bed,  passes  between  two  rollers,  one 
above,  one  below,  as  in  a  clothes-wringer. 
The  lithographic  press,  finally,  has  a  travel- 
ing bed,  which  passes  under  a  stationary  flat 
piece  of  wood.  During  its  passage  under  this 
wooden  bar,  the  paper  is  firmly  pressed 
down  upon  the  stone,  which  would  be 
crushed  in  the  other  types  of  presses.^ 

After  this  summary  review  of  the  tech- 
nique of  prints,  let  us  consider,  with  what 
brevity  we  may,  the  great  phases  of  develop- 
ment of  the  graphic  arts. 

^  Lithographs  made  on  metal  plates  may  be  printed  in 
an  intaglio  press  as  well. 


II 

THE    ORIGIN    OF    WOODCUT 

The  term  "invention"  is  often  used  in 
referring  to  the  origin  of  printing  and  of 
engraving,  as  though  these  devices  had  come 
into  being  quite  suddenly,  —  overnight,  as 
it  were.  The  behef  is  prevalent,  indeed,  that 
one  man  in  Mayence  originated,  developed, 
perfected,  established  printing,  and  that  an- 
other man  in  Florence  originated  printing 
from  engraved  plates  about  that  same  time 
(middle  of  the  fifteenth  century).  If  we  look 
more  closely  into  these  subjects,  it  becomes 
evident  that  Dame  Tradition  has  flashed 
the  light  of  fame  upon  one  link  only,  of  a 
chain  of  achievements  which  stretches  back 
into  the  unknown.  She  has  clothed  one  man, 
call  him  Gutenberg,  call  him  Finiguerra, 
with  the  sum  of  thought  and  attainment 
which  had  preceded  them,  that  the  achieve- 
ment   might    gain    added    impressiveness. 

12 


THE   ORIGIN  OF  WOODCUT 

The  printing-press,  and  printing  from  mov- 
able type,  had  reached  a  state  of  high 
perfection  at  the  time  when  Gutenberg 
printed  his  epoch-making  Bibles,  and  re- 
search has  substantiated  the  belief  that  a 
period  of  experiment  and  development  must 
have  preceded  and  led  up  to  such  excellence, 
although  these  early  days  of  printing  still 
baffle  the  ingenuity  of  research.  The  genesis 
of  printing  from  engraved  plates  is  equally 
difficult  to  establish,  though  the  claim  of 
invention  by  any  one  man  is  as  little  admis- 
sible here  as  in  the  other  instance.  It  is  a 
matter  of  gradual  development.  Rememl)er, 
it  is  the  printing  from  engraved  plates  which 
concerns  us  in  our  inquiry.  Engraving  as  a 
means  of  decorating  metal  surfaces  dates 
back  to  remote  antiquity,  but  that  is  foreign 
to  our  present  subject.  Only  when  engraving 
is  used  as  a  means  of  reproducing  a  design, 
does  it  enter  within  our  sphere  of  interest. 
Similarlv  are  we  concerned  to  a  certain 
extent  with  the  wood-block  method  used  in 

13 


PRINTS 

the  days  of  Byzance,  for  stamping  patterns 
upon  cloth,  because  it  is  the  parent  of  our 
woodcut.  We  have  here,  however,  a  device 
used  for  the  decoration  of  textile  fabrics,  and 
we  must  reserve  our  interest  for  the  time 
when  the  design  'printed  from  the  umod  block, 
upon  paper  or  any  other  suitable  carrier  of 
an  impression,  becomes  the  essential  consid- 
eration. 

The  origin  of  the  processes  of  reproduction 
is  invariably  utilitarian.  Every  advance, 
every  new  technical  attainment,  can  be 
traced  to  the  demand  for  devices  which 
would  lessen  labor  and  save  time.  The 
graphic  arts  do  not  share  with  painting  a 
development  based  upon  a  desire  for  aes- 
thetic expression.  Their  origin  is  imitative, 
thoroughly  democratic,  and  every  process 
continues  in  that  lowly  sphere,  until  the 
genius  of  some  powerful  artist  lifts  it  into 
realms  of  art.  For  the  verv  reason  of  this 
utilitarian  tendency,  and  because  of  a  gamut 
of  expression  restricted  to  line  and  tone  for 

14 


THE   ORIGIN  OF  WOODCUT 

the  interpretation  of  a  world  of  color  and 
form,  the  graphic  arts,  even  more  than  other 
forms  of  artistic  expression,  need  the  steady 
hand  of  the  gifted  artist  to  sustain  them  on  a 
high  plane  of  excellence.  Deprived  of  this 
guiding  support,  their  decline  to  levels  of 
mediocrity  and  commercialism  is  swift  and 
inevitable. 

If  we  glance  at  early  periods  of  history, 
we  are  readily  convinced  that  before  the  fif- 
teenth century  there  existed  no  demand  for 
pictorial  work  widespread  or  emphatic 
enough  to  call  into  life  speedier  substitutes 
for  hand  work.  Surely  no  need  of  such  sub- 
stitutes was  felt  in  the  Grseco-Roman  world, 
where  a  well-developed  system  of  scribes 
met  the  demands  of  their  patrons.  Nor  were 
multiplying  devices  needed  in  the  early  days 
of  Christianity.  The  new  faith,  to  be  sure, 
made  its  appeal  to  everybody,  to  the  high- 
born and  lowly  alike,  but  it  relied  mainly  on 
the  word  of  the  preacher  for  the  transmission 
of  its  simple  creed.   During  the  dark  ages 

15 


PRINTS 

of  ferment,  migration,  and  strife  which  fol- 
lowed, the  monuments  of  antique  culture, 
erudition,  knowledge  were  engulfed.  What 
demand  could  there  have  been  for  the  multi- 
plying arts  in  that  period  of  dense  ignorance, 
of  ceaseless  struggle  for  life  itself,  for  the 
bare  necessities  of  life,  for  merely  endurable 
conditions?  The  Church,  the  only  institu- 
tion  of  stability  in  this  sea  of  unrest,  became 
the  repository  of  whatever  remained  of  tra- 
dition and  erudition,  —  mysteries,  these,  to 
be  jealously  guarded  and  held  as  a  privilege 
of  the  clergy. 

Owing  to  the  prevalent  illiteracy  among 
the  people  in  these  dark  ages,  the  Church,  in 
its  mission  of  spiritual  guidance,  relied,  as  of 
old,  on  the  preacher's  word.  The  power  of 
his  exhortations  was  seconded,  however,  by 
silently  eloquent,  impressive  teachings  sur- 
rounding the  worshipers,  nameljs  the  scenes 
and  figures  of  religious  import,  painted  upon 
the  walls  of  the  church.  That  same  endeavor 
to  stimulate  pious  thoughts  carried  the  mini- 

16 


THE   ORIGIN   OF  WOODCUT 

ature  into  liturgical  books,  into  religious 
manuscripts  generally.  The  writing-room 
of  the  monastery  was  all-sufficient  to  provide 
for  the  pious  needs  of  clergy,  rulers,  and 
nobles.  Here  the  patient  copyist  drew  again 
and  again  the  outlines  of  the  large  illumi- 
nated initials  of  his  text,  until  he  bethought 
himself  of  the  labor  he  might  save  by  imi- 
tating the  cloth-printer,  and  cutting  wooden 
relief -blocks  of  these  outlines  which  he  might 
stamp  upon  his  parchment.  An  early  device 
this,  adopted  in  the  twelfth  or  thirteenth 
century,  but  clearly  foreshadowing  the  de- 
velopment which  was  soon  to  follow. 

Meantime,  in  that  iron  age  religious  en- 
thusiasm had  fired  the  crusaders,  the  armor- 
clad  Occident  had  met  the  Orient,  bringing 
back  some  of  the  wisdom  of  the  ancient  East 
into  the  scholar's  study  and  the  convent 
cell,  and  broadening  man's  outlook  upon  the 
world. 

We  know  how  Gothic  architecture  grew 
up  in  the  North,  how^  in  the  Gothic  church 

17 


PRINTS 

the  ample  wall  space,  which  had  been  here- 
tofore the  realm  of  painting,  was  divided, 
reduced,  suppressed.  We  know  how  the  cur- 
tailed pictorial  art  sought  new  spheres  of 
expression,  how  the  panel  picture  took  pos- 
session of  the  altars.  Before  long  this  pic- 
ture, which  could  be  shifted  from  one  posi- 
tion to  another,  was  used  independently  of 
altars,  for  the  adornment  of  suitable  wall 
spaces  in  the  church,  until  finally  it  found 
its  wav  from  the  church  to  the  home,  hence- 
forth  to  be  one  of  its  indispensable  adorn- 
ments. 

As  painting  made  its  way  into  the  lay 
world,  the  impersonal,  traditional,  dogmatic 
character  of  sacred  subjects  faded  away. 
Not  that  ecclesiastic  art  had  lost  its  deeply 
religious  sincerity,  but  the  artist  saw  na- 
ture with  new  eyes;  he  realized  the  beautiful 
world  around  him,  and  lovingly  painted  the 
plants  and  flowers  at  the  feet  of  the  Virgin. 
He  removed  her  throne  from  the  formal  dia- 
pered background  of  gold,  and  placed  it  in 

18 


THE   ORIGIN   OF   WOODCUT 

the  midst  of  the  actual  hviiig  world.  The 
figures  became  more  personal  and  lifelike; 
worldly  subjects,  even  portraits,  or  at  least 
efforts  in  the  direction  of  individual  differ- 
entiation, came  within  the  artist's  sphere, 
while  as  yet  the  sacred  subject  remained  the 
one  great  theme  of  artistic  expression. 

The  panel  picture  had  come  into  the  home 
as  a  means  of  decoration,  but  the  wealthv 
only  could  gratify  their  desire  for  this  costly 
form  of  artistic  adornment.  The  burgher, 
the  artisan,  the  economical  household,  could 
not  think  of  owning  such  painted  luxury,  not 
any  more  than  they  could  afford  the  costl^'' 
miniatures  painted  on  parchment.  Then 
some  bethought  themselves  that  they  might 
cut  the  outline  of  figures  on  blocks  of  wood, 
after  the  manner  of  the  cloth-printers  and  of 
the  initial  l)locks  which  we  have  found  in  use 
in  monastic  writing-rooms.  These  outlines 
could  then  be  printed  on  parchment,  or  on 
that  new  and  cheaper  product,  paper,  as  an 
inexpensive  substitute  for  panel  picture  and 

19 


PRINTS 

miniature.  In  this  manner  the  common  peo- 
ple obtained  their  saints'  pictures  or  "Hel- 
gen  "  {Heiligen) ,  more  or  less  crude  in  design, 
clumsy  in  the  execution  of  knife-work,  col- 
ored with  the  gayest  pigments  which  the 
Brief maler  could  find.  With  all  their  imper- 
fections these  early  woodcuts  were  prized 
and  evidently  found  a  ready  market,  as 
souvenirs  of  pilgrimages,  as  fit  embellish- 
ments of  wavside  shrines  or  altars  of  the 
chapels  and  churches  of  poor  parishes,  as 
scapulars,  or  pasted  in  books,  as  makeshifts 
for  the  unattainable  miniatures,  or  else  they 
w^ere  simply  fastened  on  the  wall,  as  a 
decoration.  Tastes  were  simple,  and  with 
all  their  crudeness,  these  productions  —  of 
greatly  varying  size  and  of  every  degree  of 
careful  or  careless  execution  —  are  not  with- 
out charm  even  to  the  twentieth-century 
beholder. 

The  same  artisans  who  cut  and  printed 
these  saints'  pictures  found  lucrative  em- 
ployment in  a  field  quite  remote  from  reli- 

20 


THE   ORIGIN   OF  WOODCUT 

gious  matters.  Playing-cards  had  been  intro- 
duced into  P^urope  from  the  Orient,  probably 
in  the  latter  part  of  the  thirteenth  century. 
They  ciuickly  won  popular  favor  and  were 
used  by  rich  and  poor  with  equal  zest. 
Cards  exc{uisitely  painted  or  charmingly  en- 
graved attest  the  favor  accorded  the  game 
by  people  of  rank  and  wealth,  but  in  making 
cards  for  the  use  of  the  people  at  large, 
cheapness  of  ])roduction  far  outweighed  any 
aesthetic  considerations  which  might  have 
existed.  Cards  had  to  be  sold  cheaply,  and 
they  had  to  be  produced  in  large  quantities 
to  satisfy  the  growing  demand.  How  were 
these  conditions  to  be  met?  One  solution  of 
the  problem  was  stenciling,  another  stamp- 
ing the  outlines  on  paper  by  means  of  relief- 
blocks;  l^oth  were  resorted  to  bv  the  artisans 
of  the  fifteenth  centurv,  and  their  trade 
spread  beyond  the  confines  of  Germany,  to 
the  south  of  the  Alps,  causing  Venetian 
craftsmen  to  clamor  for  legislative  protec- 
tion of  their  home  production. 

21 


PRINTS 

In  all  these  earlv  manifestations,  we  saw 
woodcut  in  the  service  of  the  common  peo- 
ple; we  saw  it  used  instead  of  other  means 
of  production  for  reasons  purely  utilitarian. 
But  a  change  is  at  hand,  for  has  not  the  cru- 
sader sown  a  seed  throughout  the  land;  has 
not  the  human  mind  been  awakened  from 
its  mediaeval  lethargy?  The  humanist  arises, 
seeking  enlightenment  and  the  solution  of 
life's  problems  amid  the  meager  surviving 
relics  and  records  of  the  art  and  thought  of 
antiquity.  Feudal  conditions  are  grudgingly 
modified,  under  pressure  from  a  new  element, 
which  brings  about  a  gradual  shifting  of  the 
balance  of  power,  intellectually  as  well  as 
economically  and  politically:  the  rise  of  the 
Town.  During  our  early,  turbulent  centuries 
with  their  grim 

"  simple  plan, 
That  lie  shall  take  who  has  the  power, 
And  he  shall  keep  who  can,"  — 

misery  not  only  loved  company,  as  the  old 
proverb  has   it,   but   absolutely   needed  it. 

22 


THE   ORIGIN   OF   WOODCUT 

Groups  of  those,  too  weak  singly  to  with- 
stand the  attacks  of  that  vast,  lawless  ele- 
ment which  lived  by  oppression  and  plunder, 
huddled  themselves  together,  built  them- 
selves shelters,  and  intrenched  themselves 
against  the  common  foe.  In  the  course  of 
time,  owing  to  an  advantageous  position  or 
to  intensity  of  commerce  or  industry,  these 
one-time  shelters  grew  into  towns,  rising  in 
wealth,  power,  and  independent  spirit,  girt 
about  with  strong  walls  and  moats,  each 
town  a  state  within  the  state,  protected  by 
imperial  grants  and  privileges,  bound  to- 
gether by  the  common  enmity  of  the  feudal 
power,  and  within  the  walls  by  an  ardent 
local  patriotism.  Strong  in  their  guilds  and 
associations,  in  touch  with  each  other  and 
with  the  world  by  the  constant  travel  of 
merchants  and  craftsmen,  the  towns  became 
not  only  centers  of  wealth,  but  also  the 
bearers  of  progressive  thought,  of  art,  of 
mental  enlightenment.  Here  the  graphic  arts 
might  well  originate  and  flourish,  for  here 

23 


PRINTS 

were  their  patrons,  the  burgher,  the  crafts- 
man, the  people. 

The  time  was  at  hand  when  the  call  for  the 
niulti])lying  arts  would  become  imperative 
—  compelling.  IVIan  looked  about,  and  be- 
held a  world  full  of  beauty  and  abuses;  he 
felt  himself  a  unit,  an  individual,  not  merely 
part  of  the  mass  of  mankind,  and  he  was 
going  to  think  for  himself;  he  demanded  to 
know,  to  learn,  to  grasp  the  truths  and  probe 
the  problems  of  his  world.  For  the  instruc- 
tion of  this  untutored  multitude,  eager  for 
light,  there  were  two  modes  of  expression, 
instantly  intelligible:  the  simple  spoken 
word,  and  that  other  —  the  illustrative, 
explanatory  pictin-e.  This  latter  must  now 
go  forth  also  among  the  people,  to  help  in  the 
task  of  enlightenment;  not  the  panel  picture, 
to  be  sure,  nor  the  miniature  in  the  costly 
manuscript,  for  aside  from  their  costliness 
they  could  never  nimiericalh'  satisfv  so  uni- 
versal  a  demand.  In  response  to  the  call  — 
we  are  now  in  the  fifteenth  century  —  we  see 

24 


THE   ORIGIN   OF  WOODCUT 

woodcut  pictures  pasted  into  manuscripts, 
to  form  edifying  picture  books,  the  pictures 
printed  from  wood  blocks,  a  few  lines  of  text 
added  with  the  pen.  Then  both  picture  and 
text  are  cut  into  the  same  wood  block  in 
imitation  of  the  picture  manuscripts.  These 
earlv  "block-books,"  of  Bibhcal  or  moral- 
izing  contents,  were  intended  for  the  use  of 
pupils  in  the  monastic  schools  which  were 
then  the  only  educational  institutions. 

In  the  early  days  of  woodcut,  impressions 
were  taken  from  the  wood  block  by  laying  a 
sheet  of  paper  on  the  inked  surface  of  the 
block  and  rubbing  the  back  of  the  paper  with 
a  stiff  scrubbing  brush,  or  with  a  flat  piece  of 
wood,  so  as  to  bring  it  in  close  contact  with 
the  inked  ridges  on  the  surface  of  the  })lock. 
It  is  evident  that  neither  the  ciuality  nor  yet 
the  speed  of  this  form  of  printing  could  long 
satisfy  even  the  most  easy-going  craftsman. 
A  more  perfect  mode  of  printing  was  needed 
and  gradually  evolved,  culminating  in  the 
printing-press.    Simihirly  the  cutting  of  let- 

25 


PRINTS 

ters  of  the  text  on  the  picture  blocks  —  in 
the  so-called  block-books  —  must  soon  have 
proved  itself  impracticable,  for  the  reign  of 
these  books  is  quite  brief.  One  is  tempted  to 
let  fancy  play  around  the  bald  facts,  and  to 
watch  the  artisan,  wearily  cutting  the  same 
letters  again  and  again  into  the  wood  block, 
until  he  bethinks  himself,  —  a  half  -  dozen 
others  likewise:  "Whv  cannot  I  saw  off  the 
lettering  cut  on  another  block,  cut  it  up, 
word  by  word,  or,  better  yet,  letter  by  letter, 
then  put  the  letters  together  in  words  and 
sentences  as  I  need  them,  and  use  them  with 
my  newly  cut  picture?  It  would  save  a  deal 
of  trou})le ! "  Thus  the  next  step  was  movable 
type,  used  around,  between,  together  with, 
the  blocks  bearing  the  illustrations.  The 
rapid  spread  of  type-printing  simultaneous 
with  these  developments  concerns  us  merely 
because  the  vast  number  of  illustrated  l)ooks 
published  during  that  period  greatly  favored 
the  development  of  woodcut  illustration. 
Throughout  these  developments,  we  al- 

26 


THE   ORIGIN   OF   WOODCUT 

ways  discern  the  same  utilitarian  element 
which  I  have  pointed  out.  Far  from  originat- 
ing in  any  striving  for  a  higher,  more  ideal 
form  of  artistic  expression,  the  devices  for 
printing  both  pictures  and  text  were  simply 
means  to  save  labor  and  expedite  publica- 
tion. The  manuscript,  the  miniature,  were 
the  ideals  to  be  approached,  and  they  were 
high  ideals,  to  be  sure.  Distinguished  hu- 
manists like  Pope  Nicholas  V,  Poggio, 
Giannozzo  Mannetti,  and  others,  being 
themselves  experts  in  calligraphy,  demanded 
the  best  efforts  of  their  scribes  and  miniatur- 
ists. It  is  a  pleasure  merely  to  look  at  their 
books.  The  material  used  is  invariably 
parchment,  the  bindings  in  the  Vatican  and 
at  Urbino,  crimson  velvet  and  silver.  It 
could  hardly  be  expected  that  these  men, 
who  spared  neither  pains  nor  expense  to 
show  their  respect  for  the  contents  of  a  book, 
would  view  the  advent  of  printing  with  any- 
thing like  satisfaction.  Their  collective  feel- 
ings are  well  summed  up  in  the  one  remark 

27 


PRINTS 

of  Federigo  da  Urbino,  that  he  would  be 
ashamed  to  own  a  printed  book. 

Not  by  these  nor  for  their  use  had  type- 
printing  and  picture -printing  been  caUed 
into  Ufe,  but  by  the  needs  of  the  people,  and 
at  the  people's  call  the  world  was  flooded 
with  a  multitude  of  works,  informative  or 
entertaining  in  character.  Soon  German 
printers  set  up  presses  in  Italian  cities,  and 
ere  long  the  publishing  centers  of  the  South, 
especially  Venice,  vied  with  Germany  in 
importance  of  production. 

Book  illustration  was  considered  from  a 
very  different  point  of  view  in  Germany  and 
in  Italy.  German  illustration  grew  out  of  a 
demand  for  and  pleasure  in  the  explanatory 
picture.  The  demand  for  picture  books  and 
for  books  consisting  chiefly  of  illustrations 
came  from  a  public  easily  pleased,  satis- 
fied with  crude  outline  cuts  daubed  over 
with  colors.  In  Italv  illustration  came  in 
answer  to  a  desire  for  artistic  illustrative 
ornamentation,  on  the  part  of  a  public  of 

28 


THE   ORKilN   OF   WOODCUT 

cultivated  taste.  For  this  reason  the  Ger- 
man ilhistrated  book  bears  a  character 
largely  instructive,  while  the  Italian  illustra- 
tion is  essential Iv  decorative.  Verv  few  of 
the  early  books  in  the  German  language  are 
devoid  of  illustrations.  The  pictures  consti- 
tute their  decoration,  —  they  are  used  as 
chapter  headings,  —  long  before  the  advent 
of  purely  ornamental  embellishments.  In 
Italy  the  printed  book  takes  over  from  the 
manuscript  the  idea  of  decorative  embellish- 
ment. Borders  are  stamped  —  with  relief- 
blocks  —  upon  the  printed  pages  of  early 
Venetian  books,  and  colored  bv  hand.  This 
craving  for  color  is  as  old  as  mankind;  its 
demands  are  urged  upon  the  graphic  arts  at 
all  stages  of  their  development.  The  demand 
for  color  caused  the  manuscript  to  be  illu- 
minated, and  the  pen-drawn  outline  of  the 
early  miniature  to  be  filled  in  with  pigment; 
we  have  seen  its  call  answered  in  the  crudely 
colored  saint's  picture.  The  outline  is  ex- 
planatory, intellectual,  the  coloring  adds  a 

29 


PRINTS 

sensual  pleasure,  and  this  additional  feature 
of  bright  color  was  soon  demanded  also  of 
the  printed  book.  The  printer's  answering 
endeavors  are  seen  in  the  red  initials  printed 
into  pages  of  black  text,  in  title-page  designs, 
arms  and  ornaments,  in  borders  and  dia- 
grams printed  in  two,  sometimes  three  col- 
ors. Another  effort  in  this  direction  of  color 
is  the  chiaroscuro  ^  woodcut,  but  that  belongs 
to  a  later  period.  A  few  illustrations  will 
convey  a  more  definite  idea  of  these  early 
woodcuts.  Here  is  a  dignified,  pleasing  ex- 
ample of  the  "Helgen,"  cut  in  outline,  as 
usual,  and  colored  by  hand  (the  dark  tones 
on  the  garments  and  elsewhere  are  due  to 
this  coloring).  No  shade-strokes  are  as  yet 
introduced,  merely  an  outline;  the  rest  is 
left  to  the  colorist.  After  that,  inscriptions 
are  cut  into  the  block,  or  written  in,  and  this 
coml)ination  of  lettering  and  picture  carries 
us  to  the  block-books. 

A  typical  page    from    the  "Ars   Memo- 

1  Pronounce:  keearoskooro. 
30 


ST.  MARGARET   OF   HUNGARY 
Woodcut  with  liand  coloving 


Cii-riijiirrvurrijojiulffft 
ulvatjib  tmuCi  iilirhu 
Vfivorur&niYV  wHiui 

oi  milhc^iuuumhOfnui 


legihH  tu  5"  lib  vnrir-r.ra  ( 
tViiTiW-Sebdaaarwfriiim) 
3ii[oiuomo  ufit  lu  ilKliu 
niuiR^o  i!iuiiriJ>9 iiiiilD  ' 
rsib  njTjniia  artmhOKat  I 

AataiiKatt 


,,1)fr  \yim  svtr :  ufl(ut< 
;ii!  cnftuAjnuoiii-ai 


a 


-<:?'^^s«SroS|  feci  y  I  tiVA^'"''-)??;^  r\ 


BLOCK-BOOK  PAGE 

Ars  Meuioraiuli 


33l.it  cxx'ti 


I^.»Ierttit)ii» 


(Ciiiiniuo  >^Viii:iii.uiiii'Jri!i);i)a.mi!»trrMr!ifTtri  i>\(ct  VfifoIf(Ufift 

m;r  ^^■  iWnxuii fivrkhtct  iuo:Sf  .uit  i it.  t.ig ftc't^ nioii^iio m.uui 

V-A  ttMiM  i>ifa  jcit  von  2iii  vh.itio  n<riT.iit<t f. 

a.ilcmniiiii(ints^mi|cl)atKi:(i(rnMr6n(.;(licij.n(Tiirif[ViI 
tnttViil;cI»a  Utc  ^■^l^  (|vlU)ibt(ri  I'oii  ^I.iut>t0  ^tm  f .u|1r 

i|\l>cn5cu'i.rvn>rmi.&.ini.Kf)ecUiKbtrtcf  i>u  tv>cl>ui  J(vai| 
|i'^ict';ad)tcrmit,rIir.p«foiiciiir9f;(|ln&5?«i>frt:cr:tK-nlKlKiiriI.nvL>e 
t  "HJlbtfUlu-Cictjf'iirttob^itniitf-jtbciigtll.iqf  v^I^.Ull.^^;bultl).^n■'L>tct,lm  nuj  uj 

O^I,1tinfi:!hiJKtibv|JMiK.uifjt'<n><gmioN-?f.ii|iTS^iiri!Mm  .Uni  .il :  .;       !  ■'^ 

crlrjift  I^h:!f}^^:tt.^fl^K^^an'f!<:^s;^^^^I;I"^,ht^ll.•.Il^  rn>  af?l'i  lia  .u't-  ■  i  :  - 

,=.-iiaf  .Mii(;i;JiI;J)cjiii-;Mti>O!ibim£lr;<rr0'rt'cn V1I& (fail? f.!t '':!'> 

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^iJ^"lir;>;lIiroplwv(U>ul!.^ll^;^.^.U>lll^^n^"Otlmalllp(.,itIc^!;t  pncf,«:U'cgf  riiy-IlKlKivkhrbiinfii  ndn.vbt  vi:i 
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1  iiinbtam.in  ftin'^icn.nls  U  r.inmimw  <iit  bficbticjcr  ain.;mtfl  cm  biKbo.'1'6.-.(Vlbf}  bcbe  an  hcilic^f cit  i-fi  kcc  fav 

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faficmcr)t(t(pO!iKii("utii!b(icieb<(r((Ai|l!Khf^ttliJ)f>:u  viibi\n"Tfi>tbcncii3iUriictiNiiibi|n(ib.*.JconkiI;um  x,n 
X-<a\<\^;wi\'d)en  juMycii (cuitn fiitidi f'J^s^ntn tim.Ttirij^at.Ocr  ciut cm  bittjoj ;ii *r5C'pI}>^v  Vii^)  bcr  anJc:  ctrt r(M(*^ 
3lO'■""tT«^19fmfTc^ltt(rtr^^^.l(clbjlcItlblfihoi"^crZ^orhrf*l>v;i^:uIJ<I;fTrf^^^^  volgr. 


PAGE  FROM  THE  NUREMBERG  CHRONICLE 

Nuremberg,  1VJ\J 


THE   ORIGIN   OF  WOODCUT 

randi"  (probably  cut  in  the  Netherlands) 
shows  the  character  of  these  school  books. 
This  is  designed  to  help  theological  students 
in  memorizing  the  Holy  Writ.  The  pictures 
are  good;  the  text,  hard  to  read,  was  soon  to 
be  replaced  by  movable  type. 

A  page,  from  the  Nuremberg  "Chronicle" 
of  1494,  shows  us  the  state  of  woodcut, 
technically  as  well  as  its  use  in  books. 
Many  examples  might  be  shown,  from 
different  parts  of  Germany,  from  schools 
swayed  by  various  currents  of  artistic 
thought.  Common  to  them  all,  despite  their 
crudity,  is  a  growing  familiarity  with  wood- 
cut, a  realization  of  its  possibilities  and 
of  its  limitations.  Artistic  talent  of  a  high 
order  —  compared  with  earlier  productions 
—  reveals  itself,  resulting  from  a  division 
of  labor.  The  artisan  of  the  playing-cards 
and  early  saints'  pictures  could  never  have 
risen  to  these  heights  of  creative  independ- 
ence. His  simple  figures  were  copied  from 
manuscripts,    or   from    some   other   handy 

31 


PRINTS 

model,  })ut  when  it  came  to  supplying  the 
growing  demands  of  book-illustration  with 
material  from  fields  without  precedent  in  past 
productions,  the  publishers  were  constrained 
to  entrust  artists  with  these  designs,  and 
the  woodcut  maker  was  given  the  task  —  not 
eas3%  though  mechanical  —  of  cutting  with 
precision  the  lines  drawn  by  the  artist. 

This  development  is  common  to  Germany 
and  Italy  alike;  but  throughout  the  early 
productions  of  the  Southern  country,  we 
seem  to  hear  an  echo  of  the  sublime  har- 
monies achieved  in  painting.  For  instance, 
in  this  large  "Helgen"  of  Italy:  a  simple 
outline  woodcut,  this  Mrgin  and  Child  with 
St.  John,  but  in  its  simplicity  what  dignity 
and  strength.  The  accents  introduced  bv 
slight  decorative  indications  and  the  shade- 
lines  in  the  hair  add  charm  to  the  simple, 
charming  composition,  by  contrast  of  tone. 
Excellent  cutting,  this,  after  a  masterly 
design.  But  in  a  country  which  has  just 
reached  the  zenith  of  artistic  achievement, 

32 


VIRGIN   AND   CHILD   WITH   ST.  JOHN 

Woodcut 


Horaqiialcanimalcchc  per  l.i(lolcccfca,Iooccu!toclolo  lion  ptrtHn 
<ic,poftpoiicruloelriatunlt:biiogiio.rctrt)adt]ucliaHihiinuna  nora  fen 
Ciainoraciimiichcnic-nturL-rtiiMiUil.iiiia.ioandai.  Allaoiialeqiiam^o 
circreucnutoragioncuolmcntcarbitraiia.inaUra  parte  la  iidiLia,Oiic& 
qamdo  a  C[  iicIloI».)co  pro  pcrantcerat;iiin  to, a]  CI  onHc  a  ppaieaeflercaffir 
mata.Htcii/icomogiilochiimiiaiujiinilniciitepiufiiaiie&dcicetcuo- 
Icuocrmuuuaciimcoclclticonceim.  Uiiiiqiie  per  cpidiainane  farita. 
&tantociimmolelia  faerorfoliaiiciuin.nic  clelMlitai  tanto.cheapcna 
poiciiaiocl  lallocorpofuftciitare.f  tgliaHaiiiiatilpiritilial'iImoiiclltii 
doelcnrpograuemcntcallaticaroliognnailoneiiircji  pcrcltraiir.'.tftopa 
uorc.fipcrla  iirgcnte  fcie. quale  per  d  loiigo  pcriiagalir.ndo  mdagarc, 
&  ctiam  pel  le  graiicanxieute.  ^  per  la  ealda  liora  ,  difdo  ,  &  icliiSo 
dalle  propric  iiirtme.altro  uiiqtiaiitiik)  dcflderaiido  nc  appctcndoje 
111)11  ad  Icdcbiliraie  niLinLiiaquicto  ripi'fii.  Miral<on,)o  diUaccideiiii: 
cafo.llupidodcllaiiiellifliMUiicc.&iimllopiu  per  riiioiiarinc  m  rcgio- 
^\c  iiirognita&iiiriilu,  ma  .1(^11  .iin'tiio  pacfc.  (')ltrade  ijiiello/oite 
meeloieiia.chccl  iiqitcntc  fi>nte  labdriofHiicnre  trouaro.&;eiun  t.into 
foicTtciiiiiuifirofnllcfiiblato&perdito  daglincliiinui  I 'erlequ.de ru- 
le cofc.io  llctci  cum  ianinnj  intrieato  ileanibigtMtati,&  iiKdt<  trapcn- 
fofo.Fiiialmciucpcr  t.mulallitiidiiiecorrcpto,(iitio elcorpo  higeltcn 


PAGE   FROM   HYPNEROTOMACHIA   POLIPHILI 
Venice,  141)9 


O 
3 


S  2. 


o 

< 

Oh 


THE   ORIGIN   OF  ^YOODCUT 

we  may  expect,  likewise,  such  remarkable 
decorative  designs  as  the  title-page  border 
for  the  \^enetian  "  Herodotus  "  of  1494,  which 
frames  the  title  of  this  volume. 

It  is  the  golden  era  of  typography,  this 
last  decade  of  the  fifteenth  century.  Brought 
to  Italian  towns  by  German  printers,  both 
type  and  illustration  soon  fall  in  line  with 
the  prevailing  high  standard  of  excellence. 
If  further  proof  were  needed,  it  would  be 
found  in  this  page  from  a  \>netian  publica- 
tion, the  "  Hypnerotomachia  Poliphili."  See 
how  well  the  beautiful  type  of  the  text  har- 
monizes with  the  illustration,  how  nicely  the 
values  of  both  are  adjusted  to  form  a  har- 
monious page.  Simple,  unpretentious  out- 
line is  used  to  convey  the  beauty  of  the  artis- 
tic conception.  These  same  characteristics 
will  be  met  again  in  engraving  as  it  is  used 
by  Italian  masters.  Woodcut  as  well  as  the 
other  forms  of  reproductive  art  remain  the 
servants,  never  become  the  friends  of  artists 
in  Italv. 

33 


PRINTS 

For  brevity's  sake,  we  must  pass  by  north- 
ern Italy  and  turn  to  Florence  which  was, 
next  to  Venice,  the  foremost  southern  pub- 
lishing center.  In  this  example,  taken  from 
Pulci's  "Morgante  Maggiore,"  published  in 
1500,  we  notice  a  keener  appreciation  of  the 
possibilities  of  woodcut.  Broad  masses  of 
white,  with  severe  outline,  scantily  shaded, 
contrast  with  bold  masses  of  black,  whose  in- 
tensity of  effect  is  modified  and  blended  by 
means  of  tenuous  w^iite  lines,  a  manner  like- 
wise adopted  in  illustrations  for  the  force- 
ful sermons  of  Savonarola,  whose  teachings, 
widely  read,  necessitated  a  number  of  suc- 
cessive editions. 


Ill 

THE  EARLY  DAYS  OF  ENGRAVING 

Having  followed  woodcut  from  its  begin- 
nings to  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century,  it 
behooves  us  now  to  devote  our  attention  to 
the  earliest  intaglio  process,  namel}',  engrav- 
ing. 

Ever  since  the  days  of  antiquity  it  had 
been  the  practice  of  metal-workers  to  cut 
decorative  designs  into  the  surface  of  the 
metal.  Armorers  and  goldsmiths  practiced 
this  art  of  engraving  in  mediaeval  and  Re- 
naissance times.  For  our  i)resent  purjjoses 
the  absorbing  ciuestion  is  this:  How  did  the 
idea  of  printing  from  this  decorated  metal 
first  suggest  itself?  We  may  get  a  clue  by 
watching  the  engraver  at  w^ork.  With  the 
graver  he  cuts  a  maze  of  lines  into  the  metal ; 
it  is  almost  impossible  to  see  the  design 
owing  to  the  glitter  of  each  new-cut  furrow. 
This  troubles  the  engraver  himself,  and  in 

35 


PRINTS 

order  to  see  just  what  he  has  done,  he 
smears  the  plate  over  with  a  mixture  of 
lamp-black  and  oil,  rubbing  it  well  into  the 
furrows.  Then  he  wipes  the  plate  clean,  and 
now  the  design  stands  out  plainty  in  black 
lines  upon  the  shining  metal  surface.  If  he 
were  now  to  take  a  piece  of  paper  and  press 
it  against  the  plate,  the  black  color  in  the 
furrows  would  adhere  to  the  paper,  and 
every  line  cut  into  the  metal  would  be  repro- 
duced there.  In  such  an  accidental  way,  no 
doubt,  the  possibility  of  obtaining  impres- 
sions from  intaglio  plates  became  known 
some  time  about  or  before  the  middle  of  the 
fifteenth  century.  But,  of  course,  such  an 
impression  taken  by  hand  pressure  is  bound 
to  be  very  imperfect,  and  it  may  have  been 
some  time  before  some  goldsmith  thought  it 
worth  while  to  experiment  with  these  print- 
ing possibilities.  At  first  impressions  may 
have  seemed  useful  as  guides  for  fiu'ther 
work  on  the  metal,  or  they  may  have  served 
as  memoranda  of  work  done  and  delivered. 

36 


THE  EARLY  DAYS  OF  ENGRAMNG 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  goldsmiths  did  make 
use  of  this  new-found  mode  of  printing,  and 
took  impressions  from  their  small  decorative 
niello  plates,  before  filling  in  the  engraved 
lines  with  the  final  black  enamel,  —  the 
"nigellum." 

If  woodcut  were  dubbed  the  democrat 
among  the  graphic  arts,  certainly  engraving 
must  be  called  the  aristocrat  of  the  family. 
It  originates  in  the  goldsmith's  workshop, 
amidst  a  guild  of  skilled  designers,  who  not 
unfrequently  practice  painting  together  with 
their  craft.  No  wonder  that  in  such  hands 
engraving  should  shape  itself  along  artistic 
lines  from  the  start.  In  Germany  engraving- 
finds  a  ready  welcome  among  other  mani- 
festations of  an  art  essentially  of  the  town, 
of  the  burgher,  while  the  art  of  the  Italian 
quattrocento  celebrates  its  great  triumphs 
in  the  erection  or  adornment  of  sumptuous 
edifices,  under  the  fostering  care  of  princes 
and  prelates.  The  German  naively  depicts, 
with  minute  precision,  the  scenes  and  en- 

37 


PRINTS 

vironments  of  his  homely  sphere;  all  sub- 
jects, whatever  their  time  or  country,  are 
shifted  into  the  familiar  setting  of  his  own 
time  and  his  own  surroundings.  Hence  we 
see  the  crucifixion  taking  place  in  a  clear- 
ing amidst  firs ;  we  find  German  and  Dutch 
burghers  in  the  scenes  of  the  Passion,  or 
kneeling  in  adoration  —  as  Magi  —  before 
the  new-born  Child. 

The  Italian  artist  is  no  less  zealous  in  his 
search  for  nature's  truths,  but  at  the  same 
time  he  harks  back  to  those  remains  of  for- 
mer artistic  perfection  wdiich  are  just  then 
being  reclaimed  from  the  soil,  heirlooms 
from  classical  anli({uity.  (luided  l^y  both,  he 
im})arts  a  semblance  of  life  to  his  ideal  forms, 
that  they  may  appear  real,  though  belonging 
to  a  higher  world.  The  cult  of  antiquity 
establishes  a  retrospective  tendency  in  the 
choice  of  subjects  represented.  Traditional 
themes  taken  from  the  Bible,  from  legend 
and  mythology,  are  used  again  and  again 
with  changes  in  the  composition,  in  costume, 

38 


THE   EARLY  DAYS   OF   ENGRAVING 

lighting  and  color  scheme,  all  in  the  constant 
endeavor  to  excel  in  perfection  of  form  and 
composition,  and  in  harmonious,  beautiful 
coloring. 

In  Germany  purses  are  more  slender,  cus- 
tomers are  content  to  adorn  their  homes 
with  woodcuts  or  engravings  instead  of 
paintings.  Pictures  are  wanted,  with  figures 
carefully  drawn,  explicit  pictures,  finished, 
natural  in  appearance,  with  plenty  of  detail 
in  figures  and  accessories,  something  appeal- 
ing to  their  humor,  to  their  piety,  to  their 
own  sphere  of  interest.  Hence  the  tendency 
to  carry  every  scene  into  the  familiar  set- 
ting of  actuality;  hence  the  interest  in  the 
natural  surroundings  of  the  scene ;  hence  the 
predominance  of  Biblical  and  religious  sub- 
jects which  appeal  to  the  pious ;  and  for  others 
the  scenes  of  daily  life,  tournaments,  soldiers, 
not  to  forget  plates  and  books  of  designs  for 
the  use  of  craftsmen.  The  production  of  pic- 
ture-like prints  in  which  hand  coloring  was 
not  to  be  considered,  necessarily  brought 

39 


PRINTS 

about  a  speedy  development  of  technique. 
Even  in  early  work  it  seems  as  though  the 
German  engraver  realized,  more  than  his 
Italian  contemporary,  the  possibilities  of  the 
engraved  plate;  the  figures  are  quaint,  rem- 
iniscent of  the  Gothic  past,  but  they  are  well 
cut,  in  clear,  sweeping  outline.  The  shading 
is  simple,  but  not  timid  or  awkward,  and 
pleasantly  follows  and  accents  the  form. 
Few  of  these  fifteenth  -  century  engravers 
have  left  us  as  much  as  a  name  or  the  most 
meager  data  as  to  their  lives.  In  many  cases 
we  have  not  even  a  date,  a  sign,  or  an  initial 
placed  somewhere  on  the  print,  as  a  means 
of  identification.  We  are  conscious,  in  these 
early  examples,  of  the  artistic  spirit  in  which 
the  engraver  treats  the  saint's  picture  and 
the  playing-card,  extensive  fields,  exploited 
already  by  primitive  woodcut.  A  choice 
between  eminent  representatives  among  the 
anonymous  engravers  would  lie  between  the 
so-called  Master  of  the  Playing-Cards,  the 
Master  of  the  Amsterdam  Cabinet,  and  Mas- 

40 


MADONNA   OF  EINSIEDELN 
Master  K.  S. 


THE  EARLY  DAYS  OF  ENGRAVING 

ter  E.  S.  An  illustration  of  the  excellence 
achieved  by  the  last  named  artist  will  be  found 
in  his  presentation  of  the  Madonna  of  Einsie- 
deln.  Notice  the  development  of  the  pic- 
ture element,  the  sureness  with  which  the 
graver  is  used,  long  strokes  and  delicate 
touches,  varying  with  the  needs  of  modeling 
and  design.  This  mastery  over  the  medium 
is  yet  more  apparent  in  the  engravings  of 
Martin  Schongauer,  the  leading  figure  in 
fifteenth  -  century  engraving.  In  his  work 
we  still  discern  the  peculiar  characteristics 
of  the  period,  long  slim  hands  and  feet, 
an  emaciation  which  brings  the  head  into 
prominence,  a  tendency  —  reminiscent  of  the 
Middle  Ages  —  to  treat  each  object  inde- 
pendently, as  a  unit,  as  a  symbol  of  its  kind; 
but  then  what  purity  and  sincerity  emanate 
from  his  figures.  In  his  "Death  of  the  Vir- 
gin," what  a  harmonious  effect,  what  keen- 
ness of  observation.  He  knows  little  of  the 
rendering  of  nudity,  —  all  Northern  artists 
are  hampered  in  that  way,  —  but  his  bodies, 

41 


PRINTS 

though  lacking  in  structural  skill,  are  won- 
derfully well  caught  in  pose  and  gesture.  His 
observation  and  his  resourceful  imagination 
were  fully  recognized  by  both  Dtirer  and 
Raphael,  who  both  availed  themselves  of  his 
achievements.  The  graver  helps  to  round 
the  forms,  by  following  the  direction  of  the 
curves.  Long,  steady,  curving  strokes,  em- 
phasized in  the  deep  shadows,  breaking  up 
—  in  the  lights  —  into  dots  w  hich  blend  into 
the  high  lights  of  white  paper.  No  hesitat- 
ing, little  criss-cross  strokes  here,  but  a  dig- 
nified simplicity  of  line  which  enhances  the 
dignity  and  simplicity  of  his  compositions. 
Remember  that  in  order  to  appreciate  these 
essential  qualities  of  line  and  of  resulting 
effect,  you  must  consult  the  original  prints; 
half-tone  illustrations  cannot  be  expected 
to  convey  more  than  a  general  idea  of  the 
originals. 

It  would  be  unfair  to  attribute  all  this 
artistic  development  to  German  initiative 
alone.  Italy  has  practically  no  share  in  it,  at 

42 


DEATH  OF   THE   VIRGIN 
Martin  Schougauer 


THE  EARLY  DAYS  OF  ENGRAVING 

this  period,  but  the  close  commercial  rela- 
tions existing  between  Germany  and  the 
Burgundian  Netherlands  must  have  facili- 
tated an  artistic  intercourse  most  beneficial 
to  the  former  country.  The  stupendous  crea- 
tions of  the  brothers  Van  Eyck,  of  Van  der 
Weyden,  Memling,  Van  der  Goes,  and  others 
did  induce  workers  in  the  artistic  crafts  to 
visit  the  Low  Countries.  Their  contempla- 
tion must  have  been  a  source  of  stimulating 
inspiration  to  the  German  painters,  and  in- 
directly to  German  engraving.  Direct  influ- 
ence there  could  not  be,  since  we  look  in  vain 
through  the  ranks  of  this  flourishing  school 
of  Flemish  painters  for  any  manifestation  in 
the  graphic  arts.  Only  the  arts  of  opulence: 
painting,  costly  illuminated  manuscripts 
with  miniatures,  or  the  woven  tapestries  of 
Arras  and  Brussels,  brocades,  and  laces,  were 
produced  in  the  prosperous  towns  and  at  the 
brilliant  ducal  court  of  Burgundy. 

Early  Italian  engraving  begins  with  the 

43 


PRINTS 

niello  of  the  goldsmith,  little  silver  plates  for 
ornaiQental  uses,  with  minute  scenes  and 
figures,  usually  well  cut,  as  might  certainly 
be  expected  in  a  guild  so  highly  skilled.  It  is 
interesting  to  follow  engraving  as  it  broadens 
beyond  the  neat  and  primarily  ornamental 
sphere  of  the  craft,  into  the  large  field  of  art. 
Florence,  the  center  of  dignified,  conserva- 
tive art,  the  Florence  of  Botticelli  has  given 
us  the  two  classical  series  of  "Sibyls"  and 
"Prophets."  The  manner  of  execution,  as 
we  see  in  the  example  shown,  is  still  that  of 
the  goldsmith,  fond  of  ornament,  of  detail, 
shading  with  minute  strokes,  close  together, 
which  blend  to  form  a  tone.  The  other  ex- 
ample is  selected  from  a  North  Italian  se- 
ries of  the  same  period.  It  forms  part  of 
what  by  some  authorities  is  thought  to  be  a 
set  of  "Tarocchi,"  a  game  of  cards  peculiar 
to  Italy.  Less  severe,  more  graceful  than  the 
Florentine  example,  it  is  another  triumph  of 
the  goldsmith  in  the  field  of  the  graphic  arts. 
From  him  engraving  passes  under  the  sway 

44 


y  ECHOCH£PR£STO  NEVfRRA.  QVELDIE 
0    CHEIVaRALETENEERE   SERRATE 
tSCOGLERAS  S I  NODI  E  PROFETIE 
DELLAGftANSENAGWOGA  RllASCATE. 
SARANLEIABBRADELLEGENTE  Pit 
VEDPvASSl   ERE  DEVrVEom  ERMPATE 
j..  tlVENlRSVO  INGRENBOAVER.G1NVERA 

H         CHECOS1MOSTR>.£LC^ELOEOGN1SPERA 


SIBILLA   SAMIA 
Florence,  ISth  Ceutury 


CLIO,   FROM   THE   SO-CALLED   TAROCCHI 
Northern  Italy,  15th  Century 


THE  EARLY  DAYS  OF  ENGRAVING 

of  the  painter.  If  we  compare  Italian  and 
German  graver-work  of  those  days,  a  plate 
of  Mantegna,  for  instance,  and  a  plate  of 
Schongauer,  we  shall  readily  perceive  that  in 
engraving  the  German  master  thinks  in  line. 
The  Italian  painter  thinks,  not  in  line,  but  in 
masses  of  light  and  shade,  in  terms  of  the 
antique  marbles,  which  he  has  studied  with 
such  enthusiasm.  His  design  goes  on  the 
copper  as  it  would  be  jotted  down  on  paper 
with  the  pen,  without  consideration  of  the 
graver,  except  that  it  seems  a  useful  imple- 
ment for  multiplying  his  sketches,  which  are 
wanted  in  many  studios  and  workshops.  A 
simple,  even  outline,  and  for  shading,  parallel 
lines,  straight  and  close  together,  generally 
in  a  uniform  diagonal  direction,  —  that  is 
all.  Fine  early  impressions  from  plates  of 
this  character  have  quite  the  charm  of  a 
drawing;  deep  shadow-tones  are  then  visible, 
caused  by  a  system  of  slight,  tone-giving  lines 
over  the  heavier  shadings.  When  these  have 
worn  off,  they  leave  only  a  system  of  hard, 

45 


PRINTS 

wiry -looking  shade -strokes;  unfortunately 
the  good  early  impressions  are  very,  very 
rare,  so  that  we  are  accustomed  to  look  upon 
the  gray,  worn  impressions  usually  found  as 
being  the  actual  work  of  the  artist,  which  is 
unfair.  The  absorbing  interest  of  antique  bas- 
reliefs  is  evident  in  the  large  "  Battle  of  Nude 
Men,"  by  Antonio  Pollajuolo,  breathing  the 
enthusiasm  with  which  Italv  told  anew  the 
artistic  message  of  the  distant  past,  yet  lack- 
ing the  poise  and  moderation  which  we  ad- 
mire in  the  grand  classical  sculptures.  In  his 
eagerness  to  proclaim  the  beauty  and  power 
of  the  human  body  in  vigorous  action,  he  far 
outstrips  his  powers  of  expression,  yet  his 
muscular  exaggerations  need  not  materially 
lessen  our  enjoyment  of  this  powerful,  ex- 
pressive print.  In  Andrea  Mantegna,  we 
reach  the  central  figure  of  this  early  period 
of  Italian  engraving.  In  him  are  combined 
the  humanist's  devotion  to  classical  art  and 
the  fiery  energy  of  a  man  of  action,  filled 
with   his   art,   rugged,   stern,   taking   from 

46 


^    o 
H    o 

!^   o 

r      1=^ 

SI 


■-^.jaiL).:..! 


CHRIST   BETWEEN   TWO   SAINTS 
Andrea  Mautegna 


THE  EARLY  DAYS  OF  ENGRAVING 

nature  and  antiquity  the  forms  of  artistic 
expression.  At  his  hands  the  world  is  in- 
vested with  a  grandeur  seldom  achieved, 
inspiring  to  his  contemporaries,  helpful  and 
stimulating  to  young  Dlirer  in  his  strivings 
toward  greater  breadth,  simplicity,  and  unity 
of  composition.  In  Mantegna's  "  Christ  be- 
tween two  Saints,"  we  find  the  same  scant 
means  of  graver- work  which  he  employed  in 
all  his  austere  compositions:  a  well-defined 
outline,  even,  without  swelling,  softening  ac- 
cents, simple  shading,  generally  in  a  uniform 
diagonal  direction;  nowhere  an  attempt  at 
texture,  or  differentiation  of  color.  The  sub- 
jects are  all  treated  as  though  they  were  cut 
in  high  relief  on  slabs  of  stone,  without  vari- 
ation of  surface  or  suggestion  of  distance. 
Venetian  influence  mitigates  the  ruggedness 
of  Mantegna's  gaunt,  imposing  "John  the 
Baptist,"  by  means  of  the  unusual,  soft, 
stippling  technique  adopted  by  Giulio  Cam- 
pagnola,  which  gives  the  print  more  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  grainy  wash  drawing,  in  con- 

47 


PRINTS 

trast  with  the  usual  pen-and-ink  aspect  of 
early  Italian  prints.  Scores  of  other  impor- 
tant examples  might  be  adduced,  but  they 
can  easily  be  found  in  any  good  history  of 
engraving. 


i 


■m 


ST.   JOHN  THE   BAPTIST 
Giiilio  Campagnola 


DEATH   OF  DIDO 
Marcantoiiio  Raimoudi 


IV 

ITALY 

The  sixteenth  century  brings  new  devel- 
opments to  be  noted,  new  factors  to  be  con- 
sidered. In  Germany  it  rings  in  the  cuhni- 
nation  of  artistic  development  under  the 
leadership  of  Albrecht  Durer,  whose  tower- 
ing personality  lifts  both  engraving  and 
woodcut  to  high  levels  of  excellence.  The 
cultivation  of  the  technique  of  engraving 
has  carried  Germany  far  and  away  beyond 
the  South,  in  a  technical  perfection  duly 
appreciated  in  Italy;  and  when  the  demand 
for  prints  grows,  when  they  become  a  mar- 
ketable article,  the  Italian  engraver  copies 
German  prints  in  order  to  gain  the  rec^uisite 
technical  knowledge.  This  Italian  engraver, 
however,  is  not  a  painter  -  engraver  as  in 
Germany,  an  artist,  namely,  engraving  his 
own  designs.  We  know  that  the  Italian  artist 
continues  intent  on  grander  tasks  and  indif- 

49 


PRINTS 

ferent  to  the  cliarms  of  the  graver,  hence  a 
division  of  labor:  the  busy  painter  jots  down 
the  sketch  or  cartoon  and  the  professional 
engraver  undertakes  the  lengthy  task  of 
transferring,  of  interpreting  the  artist's 
drawing  by  means  of  the  graver.  The  subtle 
continuity  of  thought,  from  the  first  concep- 
tion to  the  finished  plate,  which  we  prize  in 
original  engraving,  is  necessarily  destroj^ed  in 
such  collaboration,  but  the  engraver,  work- 
ing exclusively  on  the  copper  plate,  is  able 
infinitely  to  vary  and  develop  the  resources 
of  the  process  by  dint  of  practice.  A  noted 
instance  of  such  collaboration  is  found  in 
the  ''Death  of  Dido,"  engraved  after  Raph- 
ael's design  by  Marcantonio  Raimondi.  The 
lifework  of  Marcantonio  is  mainlv  devoted 
to  the  reproduction  of  sketches  of  the  great 
Urbinate,  whose  genius  inspires  the  engraver 
and  lifts  hiin  to  the  highest  rank  in  sixteenth- 
century  Italy.  His  pliable  graver,  trained  by 
much  copying  after  Diirer  and  other  North- 
ern masters,  delicately  outlines  the  figures. 

50 


ADAM   AND   EVE 
Marcautouio  Raimondi 


ITALY 

The  shade-strokes  follow  and  accent  in  easy- 
curves  the  rounding  forms  and  the  grada- 
tions of  light  and  shade.  There  is  variety  in 
the  line,  no  longer  the  uniform  diagonal 
shading  of  the  early  period.  It  is,  in  a  wortl, 
excellent  engraving,  which  is  seen  likewise 
in  his  "Adam  and  Eve,"  after  a  figure  sketch 
of  Raphael.  The  latter  print  shows  also  the 
pitfalls  which  await  the  thoughtless  copyist. 
Raphael's  cartoon  for  this  print  shows  the 
two  lovely  figures  without  any  background 
whatever;  Marcantonio,  always  at  a  loss 
without  a  definite  model  to  copy,  looked 
for  a  suitable  background,  and  found  it  in 
a  German  print  which  he  faithfully  pieced 
in,  peasant  houses  and  all,  as  a  setting  for 
Adam  and  Eve! 

About  this  time  the  publisher  of  prints 
appears,  buying  plates  from  engravers  and 
publishing  them,  centralizing  a  commerce 
which  —  before  this  —  had  been  carried  on 
by  the  engraver  himself  or  by  the  artist  who 
employed  him.  This  commercial  factor  low- 

51 


PRINTS 

ers  the  standard  of  engraving,  both  by  the 
choice  of  subjects  demanded  of  the  engraver, 
with  a  view  mainly  to  a  ready  sale,  and  by 
the  quality  of  work  tolerated.  The  only  ex- 
cuse for  some  of  the  plates  published  must 
have  been  their  cheapness.  Under  these  con- 
ditions and,  moreover,  at  a  time  when  paint- 
ing was  rapidly  declining,  one  cannot  look  to 
the  graphic  arts  for  masterpieces.  Venice,  it 
is  true,  is  yet  in  her  glory ;  encouraged  by  the 
interest  of  Titian,  woodcut  flourishes  for  a 
while  at  the  hands  of  Boldrini  and  others. 
As  to  engraving,  Venetian  art  demanded  of 
it  a  technique  strongly  expressive  of  color; 
a  new  impetus  was  needed  for  a  revival 
of  the  medium.  This  was  supplied  by  en- 
gravers from  the  Netherlands,  where  the 
technique  of  engraving  had  been  highly 
elaborated  in  this  the  latter  part  of  the  six- 
teenth century.  A  noted  representative  of 
this  Italian  revival  is  the  painter-engraver 
Agostino  Carracci.  If  we  examine  this  por- 
trait  of  Titian,   engraved   after   the   great 

52 


"TTiTlANI  VEC?.l.iJu'    PICTOHfS     C ELEEeW&A 

._  FAMOSLSSIM!     V  I- M  A    r.FFIGlKS 


Hr,Mii,L.OEofr.'>  iiKvvjAv<,,ti.(' 


TITIAN 
Agostiuo  Carracci 


ITALY 

master's  own  painting,  Carracci's  skill  in 
engraving  will  be  at  once  apparent.  Long 
parallel  strokes,  close  together,  give  a  rich 
deep  hue  to  cloak  and  cap.  The  brown  fur 
trimming,  with  its  loose,  broad  handling, 
contrasts  effectively  with  the  delicate  work 
on  beard  and  hair.  The  short,  swelling 
stroke  used  in  the  light  background,  the 
clear,  transparent  cross-hatching  on  the 
cheek,  all  denote  great  ad^'ance  in  differen- 
tiating this  variety  of  textures. 

Thereafter,  as  engraving  sinks  into  rou- 
tine and  commercialism,  let  us  turn  to  etch- 
ing, a  process  likewise  introduced  from  the 
North  and  practiced  in  Italy  since  the  six- 
teenth century.  Its  easy  technique  offered 
many  advantages  to  the  artist  over  the  in- 
tricacies which  had  crept  into  engraving,  to 
be  mastered  only  by  long  practice.  The  ease 
and  freedom  of  the  etched  line,  its  expres- 
siveness and  —  not  least  —  the  accidental  ef- 
fects resulting  from  unforeseen  action  of  the 
acid,  appealed  to  the  artists,  but  the  process 

53 


PRINTS 

came  too  late  to  share  with  engraving  in  the 
reflected  glory  of  the  grand  Renaissance  pe- 
riod. Etching  is  the  medium  used  by  Par- 
meggiano,  Primaticcio,  Guido  Reni,  and 
many  others,  but  they  do  not  take  the 
graphic  arts  any  more  seriously  than  their 
predecessors  in  Italian  art.  Their  plates 
are  hasty  experimental  jottings,  which  show 
that  their  main  interest  is  centered  on  more 
pretentious  conceptions ;  only  rarely  do  they 
attempt  the  picture-like  elaboration  which 
we  find  in  this  "Madonna  and  Child."  It  is 
the  work  of  Federigo  Barocci,  certainly  one 
of  the  best  painter-etchers  of  the  period,  and 
reveals  to  some  extent  the  rich,  effective 
accents,  the  freshness  and  freedom  of  line 
attainable  in  etching,  which  is  to  find  such 
splendid  exponents  in  the  Netherlands.  It 
is  well  worth  while,  though  not  within  the 
scope  of  this  condensed  review,  to  dally 
amidst  these  sixteenth-century  etchings,  and 
then,  proceeding  to  a  later  period,  to  linger 
over  the  powerful,  direct  presentations  of 

54 


^.  :F-BVF 


MADONNA   AND   CHILD 
Federigo  Barocci 


ITALY 

Giuseppe  Hibera  and  to  glance  at  the  figure 
sketches  of  Salvator  Rosa.  The  eighteenth 
century  brings  us  the  spirited  compositions 
of  the  two  Tiepolo,  effective,  with  sharp, 
sparkhng  play  of  light  and  shade,  and  An- 
tonio Canale  (Canaletto),  who  makes  us  feel 
the  very  breeze  which  blows,  in  his  etch- 
ings, and  the  warmth  of  the  sunshine  which 
bathes  his  Venetian  views.  What  more 
delightful  glimpse  of  the  Italian  coast  than 
this  "Torre  di  Malghera"  with  the  dazzling 
white  watch-tower  and  the  exquisite,  lumi- 
nous handling  of  sea,  sky,  and  distance.  The 
same  eighteenth  century  witnesses  an  in- 
tense revival  of  activity  in  engraving.  The 
technical  triumphs  then  achieved  in  France 
stimulate  Italian  engravers,  whose  mastery 
of  an  elaborate  technique  is  plentifully  ex- 
emplified in  the  plates  of  Raphael  Morghen, 
Volpato,  Longhi,  Toschi,  and  a  number  of 
other  well-known  men  in  the  large  group 
of  "classical"  engravers.  Their  energies  and 
skill  are  mainly  devoted  to  the  interpreta- 

55 


PRINTS 

tion  of  those  glorious  creations  of  painters  of 
the  Renaissance,  which  had  entirely  baffled 
the  early  engravers  with  their  limited  tech- 
nical resources.  These  thousands  of  plates 
were  exceedingly  popular  for  many  years, 
some  of  them  —  the  "Last  Supper"  after 
Leonardo,  engraved  by  Morghen,  for  in- 
stance —  is  much  sought  for  to  this  day  in 
fine  impressions.  Broadly  speaking,  while 
these  engravings  are  certainly  skillful 
achievements  in  a  highly  systematized, 
elaborate  technique,  their  technical  perfec- 
tion is  aggressive  and  imparts  a  formal  cold- 
ness, a  lifelessness,  and  a  metallic  quality, 
which  doubtless  explains  —  in  part  —  their 
decline  in  popular  favor  during  recent  years. 
Before  leaving  the  South,  we  must  yet 
cast  a  glance  at  an  interesting  though  minor 
manifestation  of  the  graphic  arts,  the 
chiaroscuro.  Repeated  allusions  have  been 
made  to  the  demand  for  color  on  the  part  of 
the  general  public.  In  response  to  this  ever- 
present  craving  for  the  joy  of  varied  tones, 

56 


I, 


< 

SI 

§^ 

cs 

o 

H 


DIOGENES 
Chiaroscuro  woodcut  by  Ugo  da  Carpi 


ITALY 

the  chiaroscuro  takes  a  step  in  the  direction 
of  painting  by  translating  color  into  several 
graded  tones  giving  the  efi'ect  of  a  semi- 
colored  wash-drawing.  The  process  was 
used  in  various  ways,  in  various  countries 
and  at  various  times,  but  the  golden  era  of 
chiaroscuro  is  the  sixteenth  century  in  Italy. 
The  example  selected,  "Diogenes,"  by  Ugo 
da  Carpi,  is  one  of  the  finest  of  the  period. 
It  is  impossible  to  render  in  this  mono- 
chrome reproduction  the  rich  glow  of  super- 
imposed tones  of  golden  and  greenish  browns, 
which  constitute  its  greatest  charm;  chia- 
roscuros must  be  seen  themselves  to  be  ap- 
preciated. One  can  then  see  what  manner 
of  success  attended  the  wood-cutter's  en- 
deavors, the  endless  possibilities  of  variety 
of  tones  become  apparent,  also  the  difficulty 
attendant  upon  the  accurate  placing  (regis- 
ter) of  the  paper  on  the  three  or  more  suc- 
cessive blocks  printed  from,  one  for  each 
tone.  A  few  scattered  experiments  in  Ger- 
many, during  the  period  of  extensive  pro- 

57 


PRINTS 

duct  ion  in  northern  Italy,  and  thereafter  a 
short-hved  appearance  here  and  there,  such 
is  —  briefly  —  the  history  of  the  chiaroscuro 
woodcut. 


GERMANY 

In  former  chapters,  we  have  followed  the 
origin  of  \voodcut  and  engraving  in  Germany, 
to  the  end  of  the  fifteenth  century;  we  have 
seen  woodcut  gro^v  from  the  crude  conceits 
of  the  early  craftsman  to  illustrations  of 
distinct  artistic  merit;  we  have  followed 
engraving  from  its  origin  in  the  goldsmith's 
shop  to  the  expressive  beauty  of  Martin 
Schongauer's  plates.  Both  are  to  culminate 
during  the  early  sixteenth  century.  At  this 
time  Maximilian  reigned  over  the  vast  Ger- 
man Empire:  " Massimiliano  poclii  dena- 
ri"  the  Italians  called  him,  because  of  the 
insufficiency  of  the  imperial  resources.  Am- 
bitious to  perpetuate  the  glory  of  his  illus- 
trious house,  yet  quite  unable  to  vie  with  the 
Pope  and  Italian  princes  in  the  erection  of 
sumptuous  edifices,  the  Emperor  saw  in  the 
effective  and  inexpensive  woodcut  a  means  of 

59 


PRINTS 

transmitting  to  posterity  a  record  of  his  own 
deeds  and  adventnres  and  of  the  virtues  of 
his  ancestors.  The  leading  German  artists 
of  the  time  were  employed  on  designs  for 
their  imperial  patron,  chiefly  Hans  Burgk- 
mair  of  Augsburg,  and  All)recht  Diirer  of 
Nuremberg.  With  Diirer  we  reach  the  zenith 
of  the  graphic  arts  in  Germany.  He  stands, 
a  monumental  figure,  seen  from  afar,  influ- 
encing —  not  only  his  German  contempora- 
ries, but  the  artists  of  Italy  and  of  the  Low 
Countries.  Diirer  was  a  thoughtful,  forceful, 
imaginative  leader;  he  was  more  —  he  had 
thought  out  the  resources,  the  latent  possi- 
bilities of  engraving  and  of  woodcut,  he  knew 
their  limitations  and  the  manner  of  presenta- 
tion most  adequate  for  either  process.  These 
principles  of  treatment  are  illustrated  in  his 
prints,  set  forth  so  clearly  as  to  be  readily 
understood  and  applied  by  other  engravers, 
by  other  designers  for  woodcut.  For  this 
reason  he  has  become  a  teacher  for  all  times. 
His  development  may  be  followed  through 

60 


APOCALYPSE:   THE   FOUR   HORSEMEN 
Woodcut.     Albiecljt  Dlirer 


GERMANY 

many  stages,  from  his  early  manner,  imita- 
tive of  fifteenth-century  masters,  to  the  pic- 
torial finish  and  wonderful  play  of  light  in 
his  grand  "  St.  Jerome  in  his  Study."  Itahan 
influence  is  felt  in  many  of  his  early  plates, 
the  "Effect  of  Jealousy,"  for  instance,  the 
"Apollo    and    Diana,"    or    the    charming 
"Madonna   with   the   Monkey";     but    his 
vigorous  individuality  was  not  swayed  long 
nor    impaired    by   these   Southern    charms 
which   were   soon  to  overwhelm  Northern 
art.    Even  in  the  days  when  young  Diirer 
responds  with  enthusiasm  to  the  power,  to 
the  passionate  energy  of  Mantegna,  his  Ger- 
man characteristics  are  plainly  apparent;  I 
am  thinking  of  his  famous  series  of  illustra- 
tions to  the  Apocalypse.   Take  the  powerful 
print  of  the  "Four  Horsemen,"  with  their 
resistless  onward  rush,  violent  action  vividly 
expressed,  every  figure,  every  detail  instinct 
with  close  scrutiny  and  conscientious  render- 
ing of  nature.  Then  as  to  techni((ue,  see  how 
outline  and  shade-stroke  are  made  to  vield 

61 


PRINTS 

their  full  measure  of  expressiveness.  None  of 
the  uniform  diagonal  shading  of  early  Italian 
masters  is  found  in  these  woodcuts ;  nor  shall 
we  find  such  summary  treatment  in  Durer's 
engravings.  If  we  turn  to  his  "Arms  with 
the  Skull,"  for  instance,  we  see  there  no  mere 
suggestion  of  shadow,  every  line  tells.  The 
outline  swells  and  accents  the  form,  the 
shading-strokes  curve  and  bend  to  accent 
the  rounding,  the  modeling  of  the  figure;  the 
quality,  strength,  tonality  of  the  line  varies 
with  every  texture  which  is  to  be  expressed, 
such  as  the  metal  of  the  helmet,  the  feath- 
ers on  the  crest,  the  cloth,  the  leather,  the 
wood,  the  hair.  The  modest  means  of  black 
lines  and  white  paper,  which  at  first  had 
seemed  barely  sufficient  for  suggestive  out- 
line and  indications  of  the  rounding  of  form, 
are  now  becoming  a  medium  fit  for  the  pres- 
entation of  all  the  infinite  phenomena  of 
visible  nature.  From  the  large,  predominant 
figures  massed  in  the  immediate  foreground 
of  early  woodcut  series  like  the  Apocalypse, 

62 


ARMS   WITH   THE   SKULL 
Albreclit  Durer 


LIFE   OF  THE   VIRGIN:    KP:ST   IN   EGYPT 
Woodcut.     Albrecht  Diirer 


GERMANY 

or  the  large  Passion,  Diirer  progresses  to  a 
deepening  of  the  scene  in  the  serene  woodcut 
illustrations  of  the  ''Life  of  the  Virgin."  We 
are  led  along  the  pleasant,  peaceful  paths  of 
life,  we  are  spared  the  anguish  and  suffering 
of  the  previous  series.  In  this  illustration, 
for  instance,  we  see  the  Holy  Family  at  rest 
in  Egypt;  Joseph  is  working  at  his  trade, 
while  the  Mother  watches  her  sleeping  Babe, 
and  angels  busy  themselyes  or  gambol  aljout 
the  Holy  group.  The  scene  is  laid  in  a  pleas- 
ing German  landscape,  among  low  hills, 
which  carry  out  the  serenity  of  the  com- 
position. 

The  fullness  of  Diirer's  powers  as  an 
engrayer  is  manifested  in  the  three  plates 
which  typify  man's  attrlude  toward  life. 
First  comes  the  good,  steadfast  knight,  the 
champion  of  righteousness,  unmindful  of  his 
weird  escort  of  death  and  a  hellish  monster 
as  he  wends  his  way  through  a  dark  defile  to 
his  home  on  a  distant  sunlit  liill.  We  then 
see  despondent,  bitter  Melancholy,  yainly 

63 


PRINTS 

demanding  of  science  the  answer  to  life's 
riddle.  Finally,  we  come  to  St.  Jerome, 
serene  in  his  chosen  solitude:  a  mind  re- 
signed, at  peace  with  the  world  which  has 
been  left  behind.  These  engravings  take  a 
very  high  rank,  indeed,  in  German  art.  Such 
technique  of  engraving  as  that  here  found 
had  never  before  been  even  approached: 
broad  gleams  of  sunlight  brighten  the  room, 
striking  the  walls  and  floor;  in  the  silvery 
half-light  every  texture,  every  substance  is 
expressed  by  differentiations  of  the  graver- 
stroke.  Yet  with  all  the  infinite  detail  which 
abounds  in  the  plate,  the  tonality  is  so  sus- 
tained and  detail  so  discreetly  introduced, 
that  the  general  feeling,  after  all,  is  one  of 
simplicity. 

One  other  aspect  of  Durer's  genius  must 
be  introduced,  namely,  his  mastery  in  por- 
traiture. In  the  strong  face  of  Cardinal 
Albrecht  of  Mayence,  the  keenest  observa- 
tion of  the  man  is  revealed  with  means  as- 
tonishingly  simple.     Notice   how   far  from 

64 


f 


>- 


i^y 


'...M' 


.f—. 


m- 


ST.  JEROME   IN    HIS   STUDY 
Allneclit  Diirer 


IC    OCVLO^     SIQ    ILLE  ■  GENAS  '  SIO  \ 
ORA : FEKEBAT   -      . 
An  N  O     E  T A T I^  SVE  ^  X X I  X  >: 


CARDINAL  ALBRECHT   OF  MAYENCE 

Albiecht  liiirer 


GERMANY 

extreme  depth  the  shadings  have  been  kept; 
all  in  the  range  of  sih^ery  grays,  which  Durer 
sought  in  preference  to  dark  shadows.  The 
values  in  the  figure,  the  arms  and  the  inscrip- 
tion have  all  received  careful  consideration 
from  this  master  whose  genius  was,  indeed, 
the  faculty  of  taking  infinite  pains. 

From  this  brief  glance  at  the  great  Nurem- 
berg artist,  we  must  turn  now  to  his  North- 
ern contemporary,  Lucas  van  Leyden,  like- 
wise a  painter-engraver,  and  a  solitary  figure 
in  the  Netherlands  at  that  period.  Bred  in 
the  realistic  maxims  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
his  Northern  origin  asserts  itself  in  the  care- 
ful detail  and  truthful  presentation  of  na- 
ture, in  the  characteristic  types  of  his  figures. 
Truthful  rendering  of  natural  facts  —  as  has 
been  mentioned  before  —  is  a  quality  com- 
mon to  Northern  artists.  Diirer,  in  his  fond- 
ness for  psychological  themes,  is  in  tune  with 
the  humanists  of  his  time.  Leyden,  though 
strongly  influenced  by  the  German  master, 
has  not  Dlirer's  depth  of  thought.    He  does 

65 


PRINTS 

not  infuse  that  deeper  meaning  into  his 
plates.  Following  the  bent  of  his  Germanic 
mind,  he  reverts  to  the  simple,  daily  scenes 
of  life,  and  when  he  undertakes  to  render 
scenes  from  other  times  and  from  distant 
places,  he  transforms  them  into  events  of  his 
own  day  and  his  own  surroundings.  He  can 
thus  express  himself  with  the  directness  of 
an  eye-witness,  and  therein  lies  much  of  the 
charm  of  his  work,  which  was  much  appre- 
ciated even  in  Italy.  One  of  the  few  large 
plates  of  Lucas  van  Leyden  will  illustrate  his 
artistic  and  technical  powers.  The  "Adora- 
tion of  the  Magi,"  broad  in  composition, 
sober  and  harmonious  in  the  handling  of  the 
graver,  typically  Northern  in  feeling,  is  per- 
haps the  finest  of  his  achie^"enlents.  Later  in 
life  his  restless,  searching  mind  was  diverted 
to  the  allurements  of  Italian  grace  of  form, 
and  gave  itself  up  to  its  influence  without 
reserve. 

A  great  wave  of  enthusiasm  for  Southern 
ideals  swept  over  the  entire  North  aljout  the 

66 


=  1 

5^     r. 


5    J 


o 


GERMANY 

third  decade  of  the  sixteenth  century.  It 
estabhshed  the  supremacy  of  Itahan  stand- 
ards of  artistic  merit,  wliich  —as  we  know 
—  were  not  such  as  to  give  new  Hfe  to  the 
graphic  arts.  This  wave  of  ItaHan  influence 
was  felt  in  the  immediate  following  of  Diirer, 
in  that  group  of  painter-engravers,  known 
to  us  as  the  "little  masters,"  though  little 
onlj^  in  the  size  of  their  plates.  A  high  stand- 
ard of  technic[ue  is  common  to  them  all, 
with  variations  in  their  perfection.  Varia- 
tions there  are  also  in  the  measure  in  which 
they  yielded  to  Italian  influence.  Their 
graver  was  devoted  to  the  rendering  of  a 
great  variety  of  subjects;  Northern  charac- 
teristics are  still  evident  in  their  portraits, 
in  their  Biblical  scenes  with  German  types  of 
figures.  Northern  customs  are  depicted  with 
Northern  minuteness;  on  the  other  hand,  the 
study  of  Southern  models  has  developed  in 
these  Northern  engravers  an  a])preciali()n 
of  the  l)eauty  of  the  nude,  which  is  freely 
introduced  in  mythological,  allegorical,  ]5il)- 

G7 


PRINTS 

lical,  and  other  subjects,  and  very  skill- 
fully handled.  We  are  apt  not  to  appreciate 
the  gravity  of  this  Italian  invasion,  of  this 
Southern  supremacy  in  Northern  art.  Ideal 
perfection  of  form  was  a  new  language  to  the 
Germanic  artists,  accustomed  to  the  real- 
istic, faithful  rendering  of  nature  as  they  saw 
it,  with  all  its  facts,  perfections,  and  imper- 
fections alike.  The  change  often  meant  that 
the  artist  forgot  his  native  tongue,  if  the 
expression  nia^^  be  used  —  a  harsh  tongue,  if 
you  will,  but  sincere  and  expressive;  in  re- 
turn he  acquired,  often  but  imperfectly,  a 
new  language  in  which  his  expression  needs 
must  be  imitative,  not  original. 

The  true  Northern  spirit  still  greets  us 
in  the  woodcut  productions  of  that  period. 
Woodcut  was  used  for  subjects  of  wide  pop- 
ular interest,  for  Passion  series,  portraits, 
religious  subjects,  and  all  manner  of  illus- 
tration. Dlirer  had  used  the  relief  proc- 
ess extensively  for  such  purposes,  likewise 
Burgkmair,  who  was,  with  Durer,  one  of  the 

68 


H    2 


GERMANY 

foremost  designers  for  I  he  extensive  pul)li('a- 
tions  of  Emperor  Maximilian.  Lucas  Cran- 
acii  elected  the  strong,  emphatic  woodcut 
for  much  of  his  graphic  work,  prominently 
em})loyed  in  the  service  of  the  Reformation. 
An  example  of  his  work,  this  tournament 
scene,  is  a  reminder  of  the  times  in  which  he 
dwelt,  and  an  illustration  of  his  vivid  power 
of  presentation,  typically  Northern  with  its 
crowded  figures. 

Other  masters  there  are  in  plenty,  whom 
we  must  neglect,  as  we  shift  our  abode  to 
Basle  for  a  moment.  We  find  ourselves  here, 
about  1516,  in  the  midst  of  a  thriving  pub- 
lishing center.  Enterprising  printers  seek  to 
secure  pleasing  decorations  and  illustrations 
for  their  scientific  and  literary  output.  They 
look  for  a  good  draughtsman  to  design  some 
tasteful  headings  and  end-pieces,  borders 
and  initials,  and  are  well  pleased  with  the 
sami)les  submitted  by  a  young  newcomer,  by 
name  Hans  Holbein.  At  first  the  cutting  of 
his  designs  offers  some  difficulties,  but  when 

69 


PRINTS 

the  right  man  has  appeared,  when  Hans 
Lutzelburger  has  joined  his  skill  to  the 
genius  of  Holbein,  their  joint  productions 
attain  a  peerless  mastery.  High  summits  in 
art  always  invite  comparison;  this  is  true  of 
Diirer  and  Holbein,  even  though  these  two 
great  German  masters  are  so  widely  different 
from  each  other.  Diirer  is  nowhere  greater 
than  in  engraving,  while  Holbein  excels  in 
painting;  both  are  masters  of  woodcut. 
Diirer,  with  his  scholarlv,  analvtical  nature, 
ponders  over  the  deep,  essential  meaning 
which  underlies  the  multitude  of  his  obser- 
vations, and  sets  down  his  conclusions  in 
types  broadly  generalized.  His  St.  Jerome 
—  to  quote  but  one  instance  —  is  not  so 
much  a  specific  old  man  in  his  study  as  the 
expression  of  a  mental  attitude  common  to 
mankind  generally.  Holbein  is  more  a  man  of 
impulse,  quick  to  express  himself  in  a  direct 
manner  full  of  life.  He  is  more  sensual,  and 
has  much  feeling  for  pleasing  form  and  a 
beautiful  flow  of  lines.   He  accents  the  event 

70 


GERMANY 

itself  more  strongly  tlian  Diirer,  who  is  i^iven 
to  express  himself  rather  by  assoeialiou  of 
ideas.  It  is  a  significant  fact  that  Diirer 
chooses  his  subjects  with  preference  from  the 
figurative  New  Testament,  with  its  parables, 
while  Holbein  prefers  to  illustrate  the  Old 
Testament,  a  book  of  essentially  historical 
character.  Every  scene  is  plainly  told  and 
intensely  human  in  n()ll)ein's  l^iblical  illus- 
trations, as  well  as  in  that  masterpiece  of  his, 
the  "  Dance  of  Detith."  We  cannot  but  mar- 
vel at  the  feeling  of  spaciousness  in  these 
small  prints,  at  the  lifelike  action  of  the 
expressive  little  figures,  at  the  perfect  har- 
mony of  these  figures  and  their  surround- 


mgs. 


At  the  time  of  Dlirer's  death,  in  15'-28,  the 
long  period  of  warfare,  devastation,  and 
misery  had  begun  which  was  to  end  only 
after  the  Thirty  Years'  War.  Emperor  ^lax- 
imilian  was  dead;  Charles  V  had  broken  the 
power  of  France  in  Italy;  his  mercenaries 
had  sacked  Rome,  and  mcidentallv  ruined 

71 


PRINTS 

Marcantonio,  the  Italian  engraver.  His 
promising  school  was  dispersed.  It  was  a 
period  of  decline,  both  north  and  south  of 
the  Alps. 

From  that  time  on,  the  successive  influ- 
ences of  Italy,  of  the  Netherlands,  and  of 
France  sway  the  character  of  German  art.  A 
clever  superficiality  develops,  which  adapts 
itself  to  the  characteristics  of  the  art  in  vogue. 
Etching,  the  sister  art  of  engraving,  cannot 
boast  any  signal  triumphs  during  this  period 
of  German  art,  although,  from  the  early  days 
of  its  adoption,  it  was  used  to  a  considerable 
extent  by  the  Hopfer  family.  Diirer  experi- 
mented with  the  process,  but  soon  returned 
to  engraving.  The  greatest  German  etcher 
of  the  following  (seventeenth)  century, 
Wenzel  Hollar,  followed  the  Earl  of  Arundel 
to  England,  there  to  build  up  his  fame. 


VI 

THE    NETHERLANDS 

The  seventeenth  century,  wliicli  witnesses 
(Terman  art  in  its  decline,  brings  about  a 
wonderful  flowering  of  art  in  tlie  neighboring 
Netherlands.  This  country  had  passed  from 
Burgundian  rule  to  the  Hapsburg  dynasty. 
With  the  advent  of  Charles  \\  it  passed 
under  the  rule  of  Spain.  The  master  hand 
of  that  emperor  had  been  able  to  curb  the 
feeling  of  unrest  and  ferment  caused  by  the 
Reformation,  but  the  oppressive  measures 
of  his  somber  successor,  Philip  II,  drove  the 
Dutch  and  Flemish  people  to  rise  in  arms  for 
the  defense  of  their  liberties.  A  long,  cruel 
war  of  emancipation  ensued,  and  near  its 
close  there  came  a  parting  of  the  ways  which 
bears  directly  upon  our  subject.  In  159S,  the 
division  occurred:  the  southern — Flemish 
—  provinces  remained  true  to  the  House 
of  Hapsburg,  true  also  to  the   long-estab- 

73 


PRINTS 

lished  Catholic  faith.  Consequently  their 
art  retained  its  strongly  religious  element, 
tinged  with  Italian  traditions.  The  great 
exponent  of  this  Flemish  trend  of  art  is 
Peter  Paul  Rubens,  of  whom  more  pres- 
ently. 

The  northern  (Dutch)  provinces  adopted 
the  teachings  of  Calvin,  and  soon  established 
their  independence.  Their  churches  were 
bare  of  anj^  pictorial  adornment;  their  art 
was  forced,  therefore,  to  develop  mainly  in 
the  sphere  of  home  life.  If  we  term  Ru- 
bens the  leader  of  Flemish  art,  Rembrandt 
stands  for  the  highest  development  of 
Dutch  art.  Between  these  two  leaders  lies 
a  broad  field  with  many  blending,  interweav- 
ing influences,  many  local  characteristics, 
in  this  magnificent  epoch.  The  only  way 
to  approach  the  subject  in  a  few  brief  sen- 
tences is  by  considering  as  one  vast  unit  the 
whole  period  of  seventeenth-century  art  in 
the  Netherlands,  both  Dutch  and  Flemish. 

It  will  ever  be  a  matter  for  surprise  that 

74 


I  OH  A  N  N  ES     Z  V  i^E  N  VS  .     A" .  ALTAT.  7} .  Dcmmi,  8i. 

M. 


i  crpons  cffitjioii  <xynjlit  quam   Cjcltxius  irn',     —^ 
Mrrm/^rbii  iiccta  ympt  ct  ante  utimu.  ^^^ 
f^Juih-  tni-ratJvnnirJJrfciiti  aratin  maicr: 

"iP I  HI  una   J 1 1(11  c^a  a  ail  nhjaj^iiifis  anit" 


JOHANNES   ZURENUS 
Hendrik  Goltziv.y 


THE  NETHERLANDS 

this  small  coiintn-  should  hurst  iuto  the 
full  glory  of  a  great  period  of  art  at  a  time 
of  incessant,  strenuous  warfare.  First  the 
long,  exhausting  wai-  with  Spain;  theu  a 
war  with  England;  finally,  a  war  with  the 
powerful  France  of  Louis  XIV.  Within  the 
time  limit  of  these  wars  lie  the  dates  of 
the  birth  of  Rubens,  and  of  Reml)rantlt's 
death,  marking  tlie  culminaliou  of  art  in 
the  Netherlands.  If  we  look  back  to  earlier 
days  of  Dutch  engraving,  we  discern  the 
isolated  figure  of  Lucas  van  Ley  den,  the  only 
painter-engraver  of  fame  in  the  Netherlands 
at  the  time  of  Dih-er.  After  his  death  no 
master  of  similar  merit  arose  to  carrj"  on 
his  traditions.  Engraving,  deprived  of  emi- 
nent guidance,  sank  to  levels  of  commer- 
cialism. Saints"  pictures  being  always  in 
great  demand  throughout  Christendom,  en- 
gravers in  the  Netherlands  devoted  their 
energies  largely  t(^  this  field,  and  that  coun- 
try became  the  center  of  ])roduction  of 
all   kinds    of    engraved    devotional    i)i-ints. 

75 


PRINTS 

Trained  ])y  daily  routine  practice,  the  en- 
gravers acquired  a  higli  degree  of  dexterity 
in  handling  the  graver.  AVhole  families  of 
engravers  —  the  Wierix,  the  Van  de  Passe, 
the  Galle  —  devoted  themselves  to  this 
work,  which  assumed  the  character  of  a 
manufacture  of  engravings.  One  did  the 
figures,  another  the  backgrounds,  another 
again  the  draperies,  ornaments,  etc.,  accord- 
ing to  their  respective  aptitudes.  Toward 
the  close  of  the  sixteenth  centurv,  this 
Northern  skill  in  handling  the  graver  was 
communicated  to  Italv,  and  there  mastered 
by  Agostino  Carracci.  In  Holland  manual 
dexterity  was  carried  to  its  height  by  a  vir- 
tuoso of  the  graver,  Hendrik  Goltzius.  His 
"Pieta"  in  the  manner  of  Dlirer,  and  a  se- 
ries of  large  plates,  in  which  he  exhibits,  in 
turn,  characteristics  of  this  and  other  noted 
artists,  reveal  his  technical  mastery.  They 
disclose  also  his  power  of  close  observa- 
tion, which  appears  to  best  advantage  in 
portraits  such  as  that  of  Zurenus.   Excellent 

7(3 


PETER  PAUL   RUBENS 
Paul  Pontius 


THE   NETHERLANDS 

judgineiit  is  shown  in  llio  scleclion  of  line; 
the  effect  is  sparkhng,  hrilliant;  in  fact,  this 
very  briUiancy,  this  cleverness  in  I  he  telling 
use  of  the  line,  becomes  an  end  to  be  striven 
for,  and  no  longer  the  means  only  em])l()yed 
to  express  an  artistic  thought.  This  worshij) 
of  techniciue  carries  (ioltzius  and  his  numer- 
ous followers  to  extremes  of  mannerism, 
where  we  must  leave  them  and  turn  to  the 
engravers  grou])ed  around  Rubens. 

Peter  Paul  Rubens  perceived  the  advan- 
tages which  prints  might  bring  to  a  ])ainter 
by  the  propagation  of  his  com})()sitions.  So 
he  surrounded  himself  witli  experienced 
engravers,  whom  he  guided  by  suggestions 
and  corrections.  How  well  they  interpreted 
the  work  of  the  master  may  be  seen  in  Ru- 
bens's  portrait  of  himself,  engraved  by  Paul 
Pontius,  one  of  the  noted  engravers  of  this 
group.  A  stride  toward  the  e\])ressi()n  of 
color  is  to  be  perceived  in  this  plate-  great 
variety  in  the  rendering  of  cloth,  hair,  lace, 
the  face,  the  background  and  frame.    The 

77 


PRINTS 

problem  of  expressing  color,  as  well  as 
form,  now  enters  more  and  more  into  the 
sphere  of  engraving;  a  problem  much  more 
difficult  than  would  appear  at  first  thought. 
Here  is  the  task  which  faces  the  engraver: 
he  must  keep  true  to  the  original  he  repro- 
duces, true  in  form,  true  in  color  values,  by 
a  judicious  gradation  of  tone.  At  the  same 
time  he  must  strive  to  make  his  plate  inter- 
esting, spirited,  brilliant,  and  apparently 
easy  and  free  in  handling.  Singly  these  qual- 
ities are  not  uncommon,  but  that  engraver  is 
far  from  common,  who,  having  the  power  to 
do  such  l)rilliant  work,  has  moreover  the  wish 
and  abilitv  to  efface  himself,  and  let  onlv  the 
artist  speak,  whose  work  he  interprets.  It  is 
a  claim  to  distinction  for  many  engravers  of 
the  Rubens  grouj)  that  they  came  so  near  to 
solving  this  problem.  Whether  or  not  Ru- 
bens made  use  of  the  etching-needle  himself 
remains  a  matter  for  speculation;  there  is 
no  doubt,  however,  that  his  great  pupil  — 
Anthony   van   Dyck  —  used   etching   ^  ery 

78 


JAN   BRUEGHEL 
Antlioiiy  van  Dyck 


GELLIUS   UE   BOUMA 
Cornel  Vissclier 


THE   NETIIKRIANDS 

effectively,  as  will  be  seen  by  this  portrait 
taken  from  his  fanions  "Icon()grai)]iy."  ^ 
The  likeness  is  sketched  with  his  character- 
istic sureness  and  ease  upon  the  grounded 
copper  plate.  The  biting  was  doubtless  left 
to  the  engraver  who  was  to  finish  the  plate. 
Neither  Rubens  nor  Van  Dvck  seems  to  have 
been  interested  in  etching  or  engraving  as 
such;  to  them  the  graphic  arts  were  excellent 
means  of  reproduction,  nothing  more. 

You  will  notice  that  the  engraver  has 
begun  liis  work  in  fine,  parallel  lines,  close 
together,  in  the  upper  corner  of  the  plate. 
The  print  thus  presents  one  aspect  of  the  use 
—  conjointly  —  of  etching  and  engraving, 
which  had  then  couk^  into  universal  use. 
Another  exam])le  of  the  combined  use  of  the 
two  processes,  blended  into  a  rich  harmoni- 
ous tone,  is  the  portrait  of  Gellius  de  Boiuna 
by  one  of  the  great  portrait  engravers  of 
the  seventeenth  century,  Cornel  Visscher,  an 

1  A  large  series  of  portraits  after  Van  Dyck,  engraved 
by  a  number  of  the  Rubens  engravers. 

79 


PRINTS 

artist  who  tolerated  no  hard-and-fast  system 
in  the  graphic  arts.  Here  is  a  vigorous,  well- 
modeled  figure,  broadly  treated  in  so  inter- 
esting a  manner  that  the  means  of  expression 
are  quite  forgotten  in  the  enjoyment  of  the 
effect  achieved.  A  new  element  now  enters 
the  sphere  of  our  interest:  the  problem  of 
light,  bright  or  subdued,  in  infinite  grada- 
tions. Interiors  with  the  light  focused  on 
one  spot;  night  effects  partially  brightened 
by  a  torch  or  lantern,  or  by  a  fire,  all  else 
enfolded  in  darkness.  The  pioneer  in  this 
clair-obscur  manner  is  the  painter,  iVdam 
Elzheimer,  but  no  one  made  more  effec- 
tive use  of  this  play  of  light  and  shade  in 
the  graphic  arts  than  Rembrandt.  Take 
the  "Adoration  of  the  Shepherds"  as  an 
instance,  with  the  feeble  light  of  the  lantern 
and  the  rich  tone  of  surrounding  darkness, 
with  indistinct  forms  of  figures  and  objects 
half  seen  and  half  guessed,  which  gain  shape 
as  we  look  more  closely.  In  the  famous  plate 
known  as  the  "Three  Trees"  our  attention 

80 


a 
a; 


S 


S    3 


-  « 


o 

H 
<! 

o 

Q 


%.  *^N*» 


CO 

a 

«    = 

w 


THE   NETHERLANDS 

is   at   first    attracted   by   the   vast  expanse 
of  threatening  sky,  with  its  lofty  tlunider- 
clouds,  and   the  inunense  phiins,  witli  (hkes 
and    level   fields   stretching   lo   the  distant 
horizon.     As   we   look   at   the  picture,   de- 
tails appear,  —  the  team  behind  the  trees, 
the  people  in  the  fields,  the  couple  in  the 
bushes.  They  are  overlooked,  then  seen,  just 
as  they  would  be  in  nature;  they  keep  their 
subordinate  places,  and  do  not  intrude  and 
disturb  the  general  effect  of  grand  sini})licit\'. 
Color  is  so  well  suggested  by  differentiations 
in  handling  and  varying  intensities  of  tone 
that  one   almost   forgets   the   simi)l(»   black 
and  while  presentation  of  the  scene.    As  an 
example  of  Rembrandt's  mastery  in  etching 
applied  to  portraiture,  no  better  print  could 
be  chosen  tluui  the  'Manus  Lutma,"  espe- 
cially if  we  can  see  it  in  the  glorious  richness 
exhibited  by  the  first  state  of  the  plate.   All 
the  resources  of  the  process  are  in  e^'idence 
here,  — they  are  seen  in  the  subtle  modeling, 
in  the  insensible  gradations  of  tone,  in  the 

81 


PRINTS 

brilliancy  of  the  accents,  in  the  depth  of  the 
velvet V  shadows.  It  will  be  readilv  under- 
stood  that  such  delicate,  almost  breathlike 
differences  in  shading,  cannot  long  withstand 
the  wear  and  strain  to  which  thev  are  sub- 
jected  at  each  successive  impression.  Every 
print  taken  from  the  plate  means  rubbing 
the  ink  into  every  one  of  these  delicate  in- 
cisions in  the  copper;  then  comes  the  severe 
pressure  as  the  plate  passes  through  the 
press.  A  soft  metal  like  copper  soon  shows 
the  effect  of  these  wearing  influences:  the 
delicate  ridges  of  the  dry-point  work  flatten 
down,  and  the  edges  of  the  etched  lines  be- 
come blunt.  After  a  verv  little  while  the 
difference  in  the  impressions  grows  more  and 
more  noticeable;  then  comes  the  touching- 
up  of  the  plate,  in  an  endeavor  to  restore 
—  in  a  measure  —  its  former  brilliancv  and 
freshness;  naturally  this  modifies  the  ap- 
pearance of  the  print  to  some  extent.  The 
first  of  these  retouches  are  probably  made 
by  the  artist  himself;  later  on,  as  the  plate 

82 


L-uLiid^^%j( 


JANUS  LUTMA 
Rembrandt 


jm 


Ui^i  ■■ 


TUBIT   BLIND 
KenibiaiiUt 


THE   NETHERLANDS 

again  wears,  it  may  liavo  ])assed  into  llic 
hands  of  dealers,  who,  in  luru,  liave  llie 
copper  touched  u])  rei)ealedly  for  furl  her 
printing.  Thus  you  may  have  a  Rembrandt 
print,  from  the  original  copper,  yet  without 
even  the  echo  of  that  w^hich  the  great  mas- 
ter had  originally  expressed.  This  applies 
not  to  Rembrandt  etchings  only,  but  to 
prints  in  general;  whatever  the  print,  the 
first  essential  must  alwavs  be  to  secure  a 
good  impression  of  it. 

We  cannot  leave  Rembrandt  without 
glancing  at  one  of  those  sketchy  little  prints 
which,  upon  examination,  reveal  to  us  his 
big-hearted  knowledge  of  human  nature  and 
his  keen  powers  of  observation.  Here  is  the 
old  Tobit,  a  groping  figure,  eloquently  de- 
scribed by  means  of  a  few  telling  lines  in  its 
pathetic,  helpless  blindness,  the  little  dog 
acting  as  a  guide. 

The  influence  of  Rembrandt  on  his  con- 
temporaries and  on  subsecjuent  artistic  pro- 
ductions is  very  great  indeed;  none  of  his 

83 


PRINTS 

followers,  gifted  though  they  be,  approach 
him  in  excellence  and  universality.  To  the 
Northern  mind  there  is  a  great  fascination 
in  presentments  of  the  life  of  the  common 
people.  Brouwer,  Brueghel,  Teniers  are 
among  those  partial  to  this  theme,  and  each 
of  them  has  done  some  experimental  work 
with  the  etching  -  needle.  In  Germany  we 
find  plates  relating  to  peasant  life  among 
the  prints  of  Dlirer,  Holbein,  and  the  little 
masters.  Reml^randt  has  devoted  a  good 
many  plates  to  character  sketches  of  beg- 
gars and  of  peasants.  Among  the  other 
Dutch  etchers  the  greatest  interpreter  of 
the  peasantry  is  without  doubt  Adriaen 
van  Ostade.  He  shows  them  to  us  at  their 
homes,  or  at  the  tavern,  smoking,  drinking, 
dancing,  merrymaking.  The  gay,  sunny  side 
of  their  existence  is  revealed  in  his  fiftv  etch- 
ings,  which  display  a  thorough  command  of 
the  medium  employed.  In  the  scene  which 
has  been  chosen  as  an  example  of  his  powers, 
we  discern  the  sympathetic  interest  in  coun- 

84 


H    2 


9 
H 


THE   XETHERLANDS 

try   life   which   characterizes  all   his   work. 
Jacob  Ruysdael.  the  landscape  painter,  has 
sketched  on  the  copper  a  number  of  charac- 
teristic subjects,  none,  perhaps,  finer  than 
this  clump  of  sturdy,  gnarled   oaks,  with 
roots  bathed  in  a  shallow  pool.    The  distant 
trees  are  flooded   with  sunlight,  while  the 
foreground  is  toned  down  to  a  lower  kev. 
All  this  is  done  in  the  simplest  possible  man- 
ner.  The  whole  plate  speaks  of  close,  care- 
ful observation,  and  truthfully,  suggestively 
expresses   actual   nature.    Another  notable 
feature  is  the  subordination  of  the  figures. 
Here,   as  in  Rembrandt's  ''Three  Trees," 
the  figures  are  quite  subordinate:  the  quiet 
beauty  of  the  scenery  presented  is  the  main 
theme  of  the  artist's  message.    Passing  by 
numerous  other  delightful  landscape  etch- 
ers, Everdingen.  Waterloo.  Saftleven.  like- 
wise  the    gifted    etcher   of    animals.    Paul 
Potter,  we  must  turn  now  to  Nicolas  Berg- 
hem,  who  combines  animal  life  with  land- 
scape.   In   his   masterpiece,    kncnvn  as   the 

85 


PRINTS 

"Diamond,"  there  is  apparent  the  close 
study  of  nature,  cliaracteristic  of  the  period, 
also  much  clever  mise  en  scene,  but  as  we 
examine  the  plate  more  closely,  we  realize 
the  admixtm-e  of  Italian  inspiration.  The 
vigor  of  home  influences  is  weakening,  and 
the  art  of  the  South  again  asserts  itself  as  we 
approach  the  eighteenth  century.  The  same 
Southern  influence  pervades  the  landscapes 
of  Jan  Both;  they  are  very  pleasing,  tech- 
nically fine,  but  the  evil  which  creeps  into 
Dutch  art  is  quite  evident  here.  The  ideal 
landscape  of  Titian,  Poussin,  and  Claude 
Lorrain  gradually  warps  the  former  frank 
realistic  rendering  of  nature;  elegance,  hol- 
low display  gradually  take  the  place  of  the 
good,  wholesome  naturalness  of  Dutch  art. 
With  the  advent  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, painting  and  the  graphic  arts  decline 
to  levels  which  we  may  pass  by  in  this  rapid 
survey. 


«  a 


o 

•a 

s 

< 

m 

»H 

Q 

« 

rt 

L^ 

^ 

B 

o 

H 

?; 

VII 

FRANCE 

Having  considered  the  fate  of  the  graphic 
arts  in  Italy,  Germany,  and  the  Netherlands, 
onr  attention  must  dwell  for  a  while  on  de- 
velopments of  the  printed  picture  in  France. 
In  each  of  the  countries  above  mentioned, 
we  have  witnessed  a  definite  era  of  excel- 
lence in  the  sphere  of  prints;  in  Germany 
and  in  Italy,  this  zenith  was  reached  in  the 
late  fifteenth  and  early  sixteenth  centuries. 
In  the  Netherlands,  as  we  have  just  seen,  the 
great  aw  akening  took  place  fully  a  century 
later.  In  this  same  seventeenth  century, 
tow^ard  its  close,  as  art  declines  in  the  Low 
Countries,  French  engraving  rises  to  its 
highest  perfection. 

We  needs  must  deal  hrieflv  with  earlv 
French  productions  in  relief  and  intaglio 
processes.  Woodcut  first:  some  few  exam- 
ples of  early  pla\nng-cards  which  have  sur- 

87 


PRINTS 

vived  destruction  to  tliese  days,  prove  the 
trade  of  the  card-printer  to  have  fioiu'ished 
in  France  as  well  as  in  Gernianv.  Book- 
printing  speedily  grew  to  important  propor- 
tions; great  printing  firms  were  founded  in 
Lyons  and  elsewhere,  and  carried  on  an  ex- 
tensive trade.  Men  of  artistic  originality, 
like  Geott'roy  Tory,  knew  how  to  infuse  a 
distinctive  character  into  type  and  illustra- 
tion of  their  books;  but  apart  from  a  few 
choice  spirits,  artistic  France  is  not  con- 
spicuous in  these  early  productions.  Not 
only  is  printing  largely  carried  on  by  print- 
ers from  Germany  and  Switzerland,  but  these 
countries  likewise  furnish  a  large  share  of 
the  relief  -  blocks  needed  for  illustration. 
The  Holbein  "Dance  of  Death"  is  a  no- 
table instance  of  this  practice.  That  series 
of  wood-blocks  had  passed  to  Lyons,  and 
there  one  edition  after  another  was  printed 
from  the  V)locks,  until  they  were  quite  worn 
out.  Woodcut  never  was,  in  France,  the  im- 
portant means  of  artistic  expression  which 

88 


FRANCE 

we  have  found  it  to  have  been  in  Germany. 
Its  days  sped  by  unheeded.  Tlie  ehief  field 
of  usefuhiess  of  the  woodcut,  th(>  decoration 
and  ilhistration  of  books  and  the  sphere  of 
the  devotional  jjrint,  were  invaded  by  the 
intaglio  processes.  The  woodcut  lost  ground 
everywhere  in  the  seventeenth  century;  it 
had  practically  no  share  in  solving  the  prob- 
lems set  to  the  graphic  arts  by  the  rising 
schools  of  Dutch,  Flemish,  and  French  paint- 
ers. It  sank  to  mere  imitation  of  the  fash- 
ionable book-decorations  done  in  etching  or 
engraving.  The  true,  bold  language  of  wood- 
cut, spoken  during  the  sixteenth  centurjs 
finds  no  counterpart  in  the  seventeenth;  we 
must,  therefore,  turn  to  engraving,  to  vindi- 
cate France  as  a  great  center  of  development 
in  the  graphic  arts. 

In  the  earlv  sixteenth  centurv  we  meet  in 
Jean  Duvet  an  engraver  of  original  merit. 
He  adopts  in  his  work  the  style  of  certain 
early  Italian  engravers.  In  his  composi- 
tions he  harks  back  to  Diirer's  imaginative 

89 


PRINTS 

genius.  A  little  later  Etienne  Delaime  ap- 
pears, affecting  the  elongated  figures  of 
contemporary  Italians,  while  in  his  graver- 
work  one  discerns  a  resemblance  with  the 
manner  of  the  German  "little  masters."  In 
etching  a  vital  impulse  is  given  to  French 
work  about  the  middle  of  the  sixteenth  cen- 
turv.  At  that  time  Francis  I  called  Ital- 
ian  artists  to  France  for  the  decoration  of 
his  castle  of  Fontainebleau.  Many  of  these 
Italian  artists  —  Primaticcio,  Fantuzzi,  and 
others  —  made  use  of  etching  occasionally  in 
a  hasty,  sketchy  style.  The  sensuous  charm 
of  their  lithe,  long  figures  appealed  to  French 
taste,  and  elicited  a  response  in  the  plates 
etched  by  Jean  Cousin ;  for  instance.  In 
all  this  earl}^  production  we  feel  the  domi- 
nating influence  of  Italian  art,  with  an  occa- 
sional echo  of  German  thought  or  German 
technique.  France  seeks  her  own  language 
in  the  graphic  arts,  and  timidly  ventures 
forth  in  an  original  manner  of  expression. 
This  diffidence  is  of  brief  duration,  however, 

90 


o 

H 


FRANCE 

and  by  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century 
we  find  her  a  leader  in  eni>Taving,  and  })y  no 
means  in  engraving  only.  As  we  enter  uynm 
this  broad  develoi)nient,  we  must  cast  a 
glance  on  two  personalities  of  distinct  origi- 
nality, namely,  Jacques  Callot  and  (Jlaude 
Lorrain.  Both  are  natives  of  Lorraine,  both 
are  schooled  in  the  art  centers  of  Italy,  ('al- 
lot, endowed  with  an  impulsive,  expressive 
style,  full  of  personal  qualities,  vividly 
describes  in  his  plates  the  habits,  customs, 
pleasures,  the  life,  in  short,  of  France  and 
Italy  at  his  time.  He  peoples  his  plates  with 
multitudes  of  minute  figures,  with  well- 
accented  gestures.  These  little  figures  are 
written  down,  as  it  were,  with  consummate 
skill;  they  are  expressive  in  their  concerted 
action;  in  their  grouping,  these  joeasants, 
soldiers,  beggars,  cripples,  actors,  courtiers, 
as  they  troop  across  the  scene,  unfold  a 
l:>ird's-eye  view  of  the  world  in  the  midst  of 
which  the  artist  lived.  From  the  vast  num- 
ber of  his  prints,  let  us  select  for  illustration 

91 


PRINTS 

one  of  his  views  of  old  Paris,  with  the  Tour 
de  Nesle  prominent  in  the  foreground.  In 
his  hundreds  of  pLates  we  see  the  miseries 
of  warfare  described  as  well  as  the  gayety 
of  public  festivities  and  the  pomp  of  cere- 
monies of  state  which  he  witnessed  in  Flor- 
ence. Claude  Lorrain,  an  originator  and 
gifted  exponent  of  landscape,  has  occasion- 
ally taken  up  the  etching-needle,  largely  in 
an  experimental  spirit,  modifying  his  tech- 
nicjue  at  different  times,  and  showing  him- 
self, like  other  noted  painters  and  occasional 
etchers,  infinitely  more  clever  in  the  design 
than  in  the  actual  etching.  The  plate  chosen 
for  illustration,  called  "Le  Bouvier,"  is  the 
most  famous  of  his  prints;  in  it  w^e  perceive 
(provided  we  see  a  fine  early  impression)  the 
rich  tonal  eftect,  the  sense  of  airiness,  of 
space,  the  delightful  composition,  the  knowl- 
edge of  nature's  forms  and  of  atmospheric 
aspects,  which  appear  far  more  markedly 
still  in  the  paintings  of  this  master. 

The  new  awakening  in  French  engraving 

92 


OS 


FRANCE 

ill  the  seventeenth  century  is  especially  no- 
table in  portrait  engraving,  (ierniany  has 
lost  its  leadership  in  the  gra])hic  arts;  the 
great  days  of  Italian  engraving  are  likewise 
over,  though  Italy  continues  a  source  of  in- 
spiration to  painters  of  all  nations,  she  can 
add  no  vital,  helpful  impulse  to  engraving. 
Such  life-giving  influences  could  only  come 
from  the  Netherlands,  where  the  great  tide 
of  art  is  now  at  its  height,  where  painting 
and  the  graphic  arts  have  unfolded  all  their 
glory.  Here  the  etcher's  and  the  engraver's 
technique,  very  highly  developed,  is  grow- 
ing yet  in  perfection.  What  could  be  more 
natural  than  the  powerful  stimulus  exerted 
by  such  excellence  on  French  engraving?  Its 
greatest  triumphs  coincide,  in  point  of  time, 
with  the  period  of  political  supremacy  of 
France  during  the  reign  of  Louis  XIV.  The 
"Grand  Monarque"  infused  grandeur  into 
all  the  arts.  The  stately  graver  is  the  me- 
dium aptly  chosen  for  numerous  portraits 
of  the  "roi  soleil"  himself.  In  this  pcM-iod  of 

93 


PRINTS 

teeming  fertility  in  portraiture,  we  find  an 
abundance  of  likenesses  of  statesmen,  gen- 
erals, princes,  nobles,  of  leaders  in  art,  sci- 
ence, literature,  and  of  distinguished  church- 
men. One  cannot  look  through  these  prints 
without  being  struck  by  the  prevalence, 
among  them,  of  an  element  of  stately  aloof- 
ness which  removes  these  men  and  women 
from  the  everyday  sphere  of  life.  They  lack 
some  of  the  freedom,  some  of  the  lifelike 
appearance,  which  characterize  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  Netherlanders. 

In  glancing  through  the  ranks  of  the 
French  engravers,  we  come  upon  Claude 
Mellan,  an  artist-engraver  of  striking  origi- 
nality. He  departs  from  the  beaten  track 
of  cross-hatching,  and  develops  a  manner  of 
shading  which  relies  —  for  the  rendering  of 
shadows  —  solely  on  the  swelling  line  pecul- 
iar to  graver- work.  His  technique  is  seen  in 
the  portrait  of  the  young  Due  de  Guise  here 
reproduced.  Lines  very  lightly  traced  in  the 
lighted  portions,  grow  in  strength  and  swell 

94 


DUC   DE  GUISE 
Claude  Mellan 


rt^'""? 


AMUl-NK    VITKE 
Jean  Moiiu 


FRANCE 

proportionately  to  the  depth  of  shadow  to 
be  expressed.  The  direction  of  the  Hne  and 
its  degree  of  heaviness  are  the  means  of 
expression  used  by  Melhm.  The  difficulties 
inherent  in  such  a  technicjue  are  evident, 
and  it  is  equally  evident  that  the  elimina- 
tion of  cross-hatching  is  a  heavy  handicap 
to  an  engraver.  Naturally  enough,  Claude 
Mellan  did  not  huxe  any  following  to  speak 
of  among  engravers. 

From  this  peculiar  but  fascinating  artist, 
we  pass  on  to  another  engraver  of  marked 
individuality,  Jean  Morin,  an  excellent 
technician  who  studied  with  profit  the 
works  of  his  Dutch  and  Flemish  predeces- 
sors. He  combines  etching  and  graver- work 
in  his  plates,  modeling  the  flesh  exquisitely 
by  means  of  minute  stipple-like  touches. 
Among  his  best  productions  the  portrait  of 
Antoine  Vitre  stands  forth  as  a  plate  of  great 
effectiveness  and  power,  with  rich,  dark 
tones  of  shadow  and  brilliant  lights. 

The  school  of   Philippe  de  Chanipaigne, 

95 


PRINTS 

which  disciphned  the  powers  of  Morin, 
set  upon  his  way  the  greatest  of  French 
portrait  engravers,  Robert  Nanteuil.  A 
finished  draughtsman,  known  by  his  pastel 
portraits,  and  an  engraver  who  carried  the 
technique  of  tlie  graver  to  perfection;  he 
knows  how  to  blend  delicacy  and  strength 
in  plates  like  this  portrait  of  Pompone  de 
Bellievre.  The  longer  one  studies  such  a 
print,  the  more  one  realizes  the  unerring 
faculty  of  this  master  in  the  selection  of 
line ;  each  stroke  fits  the  substance  which  it 
is  meant  to  express.  The  eloquence  of  the 
graver  is  a  matter  too  subtle  for  language, 
and  far  transcends  the  possibilities  of  re- 
production, however  skillful;  a  half -hour 
spent  with  some  good,  early  impressions  of 
Nanteuil  jjrints  will  prove  the  truth  of  this 
assertion.  Everything  is  expressed  there, 
and  wondrously  well  expressed,  yet  one  is 
quite  unconscious  of  any  display  of  virtu- 
osity. Nanteuil  was  too  great  an  artist  not 
to  subordinate  the  beauty  of  line,  the  mar- 

96 


POMPONE   DE   BELLlfeVRE 
Robert  Nauteuil 


Mm 


PHILIPPE   DE   CHAMPAIGNE 
Gerard  Edeliiick 


FRANCE 

velous  fiiiisli  of  elaborate  detail,  Lo  the  inaiu 
consideration,  namely,  the  beautv  of  a  well- 
balanced,  well-harmonized  ensemble.  He  was 
an  artist-engraver  in  the  trne  sense  of  the 
word,  since  many  of  his  finest  plates  have 
been  drawn  from  life,  as  well  as  engraved 
by  him. 

It  is  usual,  in  reviews  of  this  period  of 
art,  to  find  the  name  of  the  noted  Fleming, 
Gerard  Edelinck,  mentioned  side  by  side 
with  Nanteuil.  With  a  techniciue  akin  to 
that  of  the  Rubens  school,  in  long,  easy 
strokes,  he  models  his  figures  and  his  dra- 
peries, and  while  he  lacks  the  creative  origi- 
nality of  Nanteuil,  working  always  after  the 
designs  of  other  artists,  his  range  of  subjects 
is  far  more  extended.  In  the  striking  likeness 
of  the  painter  Philippe  de  Champaigne,  he 
has  left  us  a  splendid  exam])le  of  his  powers. 
His  plate  after  the  "Madonna  of  Francis  I," 
by  Raphael,  is  a  model  of  interpretative 
engraving,  and  when  he  undertakes  to  repro- 
duce the  canvases  of  Lebrun,  he  produces 

97 


PRINTS 

prints  admittedly  more  attractive  and  bril- 
liant than  the  originals. 

Another  man  whom  we  cannot  afford  to 
•  omit  from  even  this  hasty  enumeration  is 
Antoine  INIasson,  were  it  only  for  that  su- 
perb "gray -haired  man,"  the  portrait  of 
Guillaume  de  Brisacier,  brilliant,  powerful, 
revealing  an  absolute  mastery  of  the  graver. 
The  fact  is,  that  we  are  drifting  now  toward 
an  ever  -  growing  worship  of  technique,  at 
the  expense  of  higher  issues,  artistically. 
Manv  names  claim  our  notice,  as  we  con- 
tinue  our  survey,  and  a  few  will  not  be 
denied,  —  Gerard  Audran,  with  his  great 
series  of  the  "Triumphs  of  Alexander,"  a 
series,  which,  for  breadth  and  beauty  of 
treatment,  assures  him  a  place  among  the 
leaders,  near  Edelinck. 

iVs  we  glance  at  portrait  engraving  far- 
ther afield,  there  is  at  least  one  name,  among 
the  notables  of  the  eighteenth  century, 
which  demands  recognition  here:  Pierre  Im- 
bert  Drevet,  a  member  of  that  well-known 

98 


BOSSUET 
Pierre  Iiubert  Drevet 


FRANCE 

fjuiiily  of  tMigravers.  Pcrliaps  his  j^reatest 
title  to  fame  is  tlie  i)ortrait  —  here  shown  — 
of  Jacciues  Benigiie  Bossuet,  the  ])relate, 
writer,  and  orator.  Many  regard  this  i)hite 
as  the  greatest  engraving  of  the  centnry. 
In  a  manner  typical  of  those  pomp  -  loving 
times,  the  eminent  churchman  is  repre- 
sented amidst  columns  and  sweeping  dra- 
peries. Here,  indeed,  we  have  the  last  word 
of  technical  resourcefulness  in  expanses  of 
gorgeous  silks  and  delicate  laces,  and  many 
other  textures  and  substances.  If  one  should 
feel  that  all  this  elaboration  of  the  setting 
distracts  the  attention  from  the  portrait 
itself,  he  must  blame  the  epoch  and  the 
painter  whose  design  the  engraver  needs 
must  follow. 

Now  the  reign  of  Louis  XI^"  is  over,  and 
we  come  to  the  Regency,  and  to  Louis  XV. 
Sensitive  art,  always  the  expression  of  the 
prevailing  attitude  of  mind,  shifts  to  that 
well-known  sphere  of  light-hearted,  trifling, 
idyllic,  galant  subjects,  a  sphere  which  we 

99 


PRINTS 

naturally  connect  with  Watteau  and  Lan- 
cret,  with  Boucher  and  Greuze:  subjects  of 
which  the  illustration  "Champs  Elysees," 
after  Watteau,  by  Tardieu,  is  a  fairly  typical 
example.  Playful  shepherd  scenes  abound, 
dainty  figures  masquerading  as  housekeep- 
ers, school-teachers,  laundresses:  or  else  we 
have  glimpses  of  the  intimacy  of  the  boudoir 
and  chamber  with  sensuous  allusions  more 
or  less  veiled.  It  is  clear  that  such  scenes 
recjuired  a  medium  other  than  the  serious, 
dignified  form  of  engraving,  which  we  have 
seen  heretofore.  Such  light,  gay,  piquant 
scenes  demanded  a  freer  medium  of  expres- 
sion; also  they  required  the  merry  touch  of 
light,  joyous  coloring. 

In  response  to  these  demands,  Gilles 
Demarteau  perfected  a  process  admirably 
suited  to  rendering  the  effect  of  sketchy 
crayon  drawing.  Leprince  devised  the  proc- 
ess known  as  "aquatint,"  by  means  of 
which  the  washes  of  water -color  or  sepia 
might  be  closely  imitated  upon  the  copper. 

100 


'f) 

3 

SI 

■w 

CO 

■3 

r^ 

H 

.4 

W 

a 

11 

S 

00 

■< 

■s 

o 

FRANCE 

Both  these  media  came  into  frequent  use, 
and  often  a  brown  ink  was  used  in  the  print- 
ing, being  deemed  more  appropriate  to  the 
subjects  than  the  usual  black,  or  the  copper 
plate  was  painted  with  colors  for  each  im- 
pression, a  lengthy  and  delicate  operation, 
and  these  color  -  prints  —  not  to  be  con- 
founded with  prints  colored  by  hand  — 
are  prized  by  many  amateurs.  A  word 
here  on  these  color-prints :  LeBlon  evolved 
a  cumbersome  method  of  three-color  print- 
ing, engraving  one  plate  for  each  color; 
often  a  fourth  plate  was  added,  as  a  foun- 
dation for  the  other  three.  The  other 
method,  mentioned  above,  was  generally 
adopted,  quite  a  number  of  engra\'ers  devot- 
ing themselves  to  this  color-work. 

Now  again  temi)tation  spreads  out  a 
world  of  enticing  themes  for  discussion, 
which  we  must  pass  by:  ornaments,  elabo- 
rate decorations  of  theses,  emblems,  armorial 
designs,  calendars.  Even  the  teeming  field 
of  book  decoration  must  not  keep  us  long, 

101 


PRINTS 

entrancing  though  it  be  as  a  field  for  special- 
izing study.  It  has  already  been  remarked 
that  in  this  field,  formerly  held  by  woodcut, 
the  intaglio  processes  had  assumed  a  monop- 
oly. Artists  of  great  repute  were  called  upon 
for  designs  to  ornament  the  elegant  volumes 
offered  to  literary  amateurs.  The  character 
of  the  illustration  and  ornamentation  was 
dictated,  not  so  much  bv  the  contents  of  the 
books  as  by  the  predilections  of  the  buying 
public.  A  very  high  degree  of  technical  effi- 
ciency prevailed  among  the  engravers  who 
busied  themselves  with  illustrations  for  liter- 
ary productions;  they  entered  so  thoroughly 
into  the  spirit  of  the  designs  that  their  own 
individual  characteristics  are  hard  to  discern 
in  the  mass  of  light,  dainty  embellishments 
of  the  printed  page.  The  fine  harmony 
which  blends  together  type  and  ornamenta- 
tion in  the  books  of  that  period,  would  be 
well  worth  imitation  in  our  own  advanced 
days.  The  subjects  are  amorous  for  the  most 
part,  as  well  befits  a  time  when  Venus  ruled 

102 


FRANCE 

in  French  society.  If  you  glance  through  the 
ilhistrated  editions  of  the  "Fables,"  or  the 
"Baisers  "  of  Dorat,  the  "Temple  de  Guide" 
of  Montesquieu,  the  "Henriade"  of  Vol- 
taire, the  "Contes  nouveaux"  of  Marmon- 
tel,  or  the  "Chansons"  of  Delaborde,  you 
will  find  there  the  best  efforts  of  such  masters 
of  illustration  as  Eisen,  Choffard,  Gravelot, 
Moreau,  and  others,  who  struck  the  note 
demanded  by  the  social  elite  of  their  day. 
Thej^  idealize  a  hollow,  shamming  society, 
which  they  carry  into  fairyland  by  an  art 
true  in  its  rendering  of  a  play-acting  world. 
The  dimpled,  rosy  Venus,  the  shepherdess  of 
well-rounded,  shapely  figure,  —  these  ideals 
of  beauty  are  not  Greek,  nor  of  the  great 
Renaissance  period.  Such  divinities  are 
found  in  Versailles  gardens  ;  their  proto- 
types are  Jeanne  Dubarry  and  her  like, 
the  ladies  of  the  court,  the  beauties  of  the 
stage;  and  for  this  reason  French  art  of 
the  eighteenth  century  is  genuine  and  true, 
because  it  does  not  seek  its  ideals  in  the 

103 


PRINTS 

dim  past,  l^ut  chooses  them  in  contempo- 
rary Hfe. 

As  we  follow  engraving,  it  declines  from  a 
spontaneous  exercise  of  the  thinking,  artistic 
mind  into  drudgery  of  systematized  routine. 
Engraving  becomes  petrified  into  a  thing 
of  tradition,  with  elaborate  systems  of  lines 
and  dots,  to  be  dutifully  acquired  during 
long  years  of  apprenticeship.  Originality  is 
frowned  down  by  rigid  precept,  selection  is 
made  subservient  to  accepted  prescription. 
In  this  so-called  "classical"  style  of  engrav- 
ing, Georg  AVille  moves  at  ease,  among  the 
most  perplexing  technical  intricacies.  A 
virtuoso,  and  a  piu-ist,  Wille  deems  the  burin 
the  one  and  only  admissible  tool  of  an  en- 
graver. The  careful  detail,  the  minutely 
finished  i)aintings  of  Gerard  Dou,  Mieris,  or 
Netscher  give  play  to  his  powers.  The  plate 
reproduced  here  is  the  famous  "  Satin  Gown  " 
after  Terborch,  so  called  because  of  the  won- 
derfid  rendering  of  the  girl's  dress,  with  its 
silvery    sheen    and    glossy    shadows.     The 

104 


INSTRUCTION   PATERNELLE  (The  "Satin  Gown") 
Georg  Wille 


FRANCE 

lighting  of  the  scene,  the  modehng  of  forms, 
the  translation  of  color-values  into  terms  of 
black  and  white,  have  all  received  careful 
consideration,  nor  do  we  feel  in  the  work  of 
this  leader  the  cold  metallic  hardness  and 
monotony  which  often  wearies  in  the  im- 
mense output  of  the  classical  engravers.  The 
names  of  Bervic,  excellent  but  slow  and 
excessively  systematic,  Boucher  Desnoyers, 
the  brilliant  technician,  come  to  mind  among 
Frenchmen.  Italy,  however,  became  the 
real  home  of  classical  engraving,  and  names 
such  as  Longhi,  Raphael  Morghen,  Toschi, 
with  their  large  plates,  chiefly  dealing  with 
religious  subjects,  must  be  familiar  to  any 
amateur  of  prints.  Their  fame,  the  great 
favor  which  they  enjoyed  with  the  art- 
loving  public  for  a  while,  brought  pupils 
from  all  parts  of  Europe  to  these  Italian 
leaders. 

In  France  the  triumphs  which  painter- 
etching  achieved  in  the  Netherlands  had 
but  a  faint  echo:  Callot  and  Claude  Lorrain 

105 


PRINTS 

have  already  been  mentioned.  Painters  like 
Lebrun  or  Largilliere  left  the  graphic  arts 
to  the  engravers;  they  viewed  their  skillful 
translations  of  painting  into  black  and  white 
as  the  work  of  colleagues,  not  craftsmen. 
We  have  noted  the  influence  of  Watteau  on 
the  "etcher-engravers";  he  himself  handled 
the  etching-point  at  times,  in  a  few  sketchy 
plates;  Boucher,  Fragonard,  and  others 
dabbled  in  etching  a  little,  nothing  more. 
Jean  Jacques  de  Boissieu  and  Jean  Pierre 
Norblin,  the  latter  an  enthusiastic  student 
of  Rembrandt's  perplexing  technique,  should 
be  mentioned  as  leading  exponents  of  etch- 
ing before  the  great  nineteenth-century  re- 
vival to  which  we  shall  presently  turn.  Now 
we  must  leave  France,  w^ith  the  classical 
engravers  at  the  helm,  their  formula  spread- 
ing far  and  wide  and  with  the  vignettists 
busy  on  their  portrayal  of  French  society  at 
the  end  of  the  ancien  regime.  As  Watteau 
had  shown  us  the  customs  of  the  grand- 
fathers, at  the  beginning  of  the  century,  so 

106 


PLATE  FROM  THE  CAPRICHOS 
Francisco  Goya 


FRANCE 

Saint -Aubin,  Eisen,  Moreaii,  and  other 
clever  artists  show  us  the  Hfe  of  the  grand- 
children: a  society  bound  up  in  the  pursuit 
of  pleasure,  blindly  rushing  on  toward  exile 
or  the  guillotine  of  the  French  Revolution. 
Before  proceeding  to  English  prints,  let  us 
glance  at  the  one  prominent  figure  in  Span- 
ish etching:  Francisco  Goya.  A  painter- 
etcher  of  intense  feeling,  fiery,  impulsive,  he 
feels  acutelv  the  evils  under  which  his  conn- 
try  is  groaning.  In  an  art  largely  allusive 
and  bitterly  satirical,  he  conjures  before  us 
an  abyss  of  human  wretchedness,  greed,  and 
misrule  in  those  strange  "Caprichos"  from 
which  an  illustration  has  been  selected.  In 
other  series  he  shows  with  the  same  graphic 
power  the  hazards  of  the  bull  -  fight,  and 
again  the  fearful  consequences  of  warfare. 
Filled  with  his  thought,  he  compels  the  cop- 
per to  express  the  intensity  of  his  concep- 
tion. His  medium  is  whatever  will  convey 
the  message,  usually  an  etched  outline, 
modeled    into    with    aquatint    in    a    bold 

107 


PRINTS 

sketchy  manner.  His  few,  rare  lithographs 
have  the  same  powerful  characteristics,  and 
it  is  this  energy  of  expression  which  makes 
his  prints  distinctive  and  desirable. 


VIII 

ENGLAND 

In  point  of  time  England  is  last,  among 
European  countries,  in  bringing  forth  any 
important  manifestation  in  the  realm  of 
prints.  During  the  early  centuries  of  engrav- 
ing the  artistic  demands  of  the  country  were 
supplied  by  foreigners.  In  the  seventeenth 
century  Wenzel  Hollar  accompanied  the 
Earl  of  Arundel  to  England,  and  the  name  of 
this  prolific  etcher  is,  without  a  doubt,  the 
most  important  for  that  period.  Among  his 
2750  plates  are  landscapes,  views,  portraits, 
plates  of  costumes  and  events  of  the  day, 
allegories,  and  what-not:  all  done  with  the 
skill  of  the  practiced  etcher,  though  not 
exalted  by  the  master -touch  of  genius. 
Other  foreign-born  engravers  are  not  lack- 
ing; among  native  Britons,  Faithorne,  Rob- 
ert White,  and  George  Vertue  are  the  most 
noted.    A   portrait   by   William   Faithorne 

109 


PRINTS 

gives  an  idea  of  early  English  work.  It  can- 
not offer  anything  new,  relying  as  it  does  on 
the  art  of  the  Continent  for  every  artistic 
impulse;  imitative,  not  yet  creative.  Even 
well-known  men  of  the  eighteenth  century 
—  Robert  Strange,  William  Sharp,  and 
William  Woollett,  with  his  large  ideal  land- 
scapes —  hark  back  to  the  teachings  of  the 
Continent  and  follow  in  the  beaten  track. 
One  personality  stands  out  prominently  in 
this  period,  a  man  with  a  message  delivered 
by  means  of  his  prints,  the  painter-engraver 
William  Hogarth,  who,  like  Goya,  uses  the 
needle  and  graver  as  a  medium  for  a  power- 
ful crusade  against  the  social  evils  of  his  day. 
These  he  castigates  with  biting  satire  and 
forceful  preachment.  His  might  be  called  a 
literary  art,  with  the  stress  laid  on  the  moral 
theme,  not  on  technical  perfection. 

Among  the  foreign  talent  Francesco  Bar- 
tolozzi  is  preeminent  as  a  stipple  engraver 
in  England.  He  is  the  foremost  interpreter 
of    the    dainty    compositions    of    Angelica 

110 


^f/YnC 


CATHARINE   OF   BRAGANZA 
William  Faithonie 


THE   HON.   MISS   BINGHAM 
Francesco  Bartolozzi 


ENGLAND 

Kauffmann  and  of  Cipriani.  Our  illustra- 
tion, "The  Hon.  Miss  Bingham,"  after  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds,  shows  the  Italian  engraver 
at  his  best.  The  whole  plate  is  a  mass  of 
minute  dots  which  form  the  lines  and  the 
tones  of  the  portrait.  An  adaptation,  in  a 
more  minute  grain,  of  the  French  crayon- 
manner,  the  English  stipple  lends  itself  ad- 
mirably to  the  smooth  blendings  and  soft 
modeling  of  the  sweet  allegorical  plates, 
which  Bartolozzi  produced  with  indefatiga- 
ble industry.  Stipple  prints  quickly  gained 
the  favor  not  only  of  the  British  public, 
but  also  held  sway  for  a  while  on  the  Con- 
tinent. The  process  was  eminently  suited, 
and  often  used,  for  color  -  printing,  or  for 
slight  suggestions  of  color  introduced  in  the 
printing,  to  add  to  their  charm. 

The  medium  most  particularly  fostered 
in  England  is  mezzotint  engraving;  orig- 
inarv  from  German v,  it  found  in  the  island 
kingdom  a  happy  soil  for  its  speedy  growth. 
When  Lely,  Kneller,  Gainsborough,  Reyn- 

111 


PRINTS 

olds,  and  all  that  famous  group  of  painters 
gave  to  the  world  their  magnificent  array  of 
portraits,  there  existed  no  school  of  line 
engravers  in  England,  no  group  of  masterly 
engravers  or  etchers  such  as  those  of  the 
Netherlands  or  of  France.  The  field,  there- 
fore, was  clear  for  mezzotint,  and  it  seems 
as  though  no  other  process  could  have 
more  adequateh^  interpreted  the  achieve- 
ments of  the  great  portraitists.  Their  preva- 
lent breadth  of  treatment,  devoid  of  small, 
niggling  detail,  their  numerous  women's  por- 
traits, with  soft,  rounded  forms,  subtle 
transitions  of  tone,  sparkling  accents  of  light 
and  blending  depths  of  shadow,  were  admir- 
ably suited  to  the  "black  art."  Hence  the 
rise,  during  the  eighteenth  century,  of  a 
large  school  of  mezzotint  engravers,  who  at- 
tained great  perfection  in  their  chosen  me- 
dium, progressing  from  prints  of  a  sooty, 
black  appearance  to  plates  of  clear,  fine  tex- 
ture, like  the  portrait  of  Mrs.  Carnac  here 
reproduced,  an  engraving  by  John  Raphael 

112 


MRS.  CARNAC 
John  Raphael  Smith 


ENGLAND 

Smith.  One  is  apt,  quite  naturally,  to  ac- 
cord to  engravings  like  this  the  credit  due 
to  the  painter  for  his  graceful  composition. 
Quite  aside,  however,  from  matters  of  com- 
position and  beauty  of  subject,  the  mere 
charm  of  intense  shadow  and  brilliant  high 
light,  with  transitions  of  breath  -  like  deli- 
cacy, rendered  with  the  velvety  richness  pe- 
culiar to  mezzotint,  will  readily  explain  the 
vogue  and  costliness  of  such  prints.  No 
half-tone  reproduction,  however  good,  can 
convey  an  idea  of  the  texture  of  mezzotint- 
ing. An  examination  of  good,  early  impres- 
sions of  mezzotint  portraits  by  such  men  as 
McArdell,  Watson,  Ward,  Green,  Reynolds, 
or  other  notables  of  the  scraper,  will  prove 
their  merits  much  more  convincingly  than 
words. 

While  portraiture  is  the  field  par  excellence 
of  mezzotint  achieveinent,  other  possibilities 
of  the  process  are  evidenced  by  plates  like 
the  flower  and  fruit  piece  here  shown,  in 
which   Richard    Earlom   proves   himself   a 

113 


PRINTS 

gifted  interpreter  of  Huysiim.  The  varied 
surfaces,  the  dehcate  bloom  on  the  fruit,  and 
all  those  little  touches  dear  to  the  Dutch 
painter  —  sparkling  dewdrops,  insects,  the 
velvety  underside  of  an  overturned  leaf  — 
are  faithfully  reproduced.  AVe  almost  seem 
to  see  the  actual  colors  of  the  painting,  so 
carefully  have  the  values  been  gauged.  In 
no  other  process  could  the  painting  have 
been  transcribed  more  pleasingly.  The  men- 
tion of  Earlom  as  the  engraver  of  a  large 
series  of  landscape  plates,  the  "Liber  Verita- 
tis,"  after  sketches  by  Claude  Lorrain,  leads 
us  to  J.  M.  W.  Turner,  to  whom  these  plates 
suggested  the  well-known  "Liber  Studio- 
rum,"  but  of  this  more  in  our  review  of  the 
nineteenth  century. 

In  the  matter  of  woodcut,  little  need  be 
said  in  this  Ijrief  outline,  aside  from  Jack- 
son's chiaroscuros,  until  we  come  to  Thomas 
Bewick  and  with  him  to  an  important  re- 
vival of  the  relief  process  in  modified  form. 
Bewick  recognized  the  possibilities  of  the 

114 


PLOWER  AND   FRUIT   PIECE 
Richard  Earlom 


ENGLAND 

wood  block,  if  cut  across  the  grain,  instead  of 
plank  wise  as  used  for  the  old  woodcut.  The 
plank  block  necessitates  the  use  of  the  knife; 
a  cross-grain  block  of  boxwood  on  the  other 
hand,  permits  the  use  of  that  king  of  instru- 
ments, the  graver.  Wood  -  engraving  once 
established  by  Bewick,  and  elaborated  by 
his  followers,  rapidly  spread  over  Europe, 
ultimately  to  reach  its  highest  form  of  tech- 
nical perfection  in  the  United  States. 


IX 

THE    UNITED    STATES 

In  early  days,  the  American  colonies  were 
indifferent  if  not  inhospitable  to  the  fine 
arts.  Only  portraitiu'e  and  expressions  of 
patriotism  fonnd  a  welcome,  both  in  paint- 
ing and  engraving.  These,  with  some  maps, 
diagrams,  and  views,  gave  partial  employ- 
ment to  a  few  engravers,  with  such  addi- 
tions to  their  number  as  landed  from  time 
to  time  from  Europe  for  a  sojourn  more  or 
less  prolonged.  Prominent  among  early  ar- 
rivals was  Peter  Pelham,  an  artist  of  good 
aV)ilities,  who  portrayed  in  mezzotint  a  num- 
ber of  New  England  ministers. 

Passing  on  to  the  Washington  period,  we 
find  in  Charles  Willson  Peale  an  American 
painter-engraver  of  merit.  Such  mezzotint 
portraits  as  General  and  Lady  Washington, 
Lafavette,  Franklin,  and  others  easilv  rank 

116 


THOMAS  JEFFERSON 
David  Edwin 


THE   UNITED   STATES 

among  the  best  native  productions  of  that 
period.  David  Edwin,  an  immigrant  from 
England,  brought  proficiency  in  stipple  en- 
graving. His  merits  can  be  judged  from  the 
best  of  his  plates,  the  portrait  of  Thomas 
Jefferson,  appropriately  simple  and  digni- 
fied in  execution.  With  the  advancing  nine- 
teenth century,  engraving  becomes  plentiful 
in  this  country.  Publishers  require  many 
portraits,  views,  subjects  of  all  kinds,  nor 
must  we  forget  the  important  and  flourish- 
ing branch  of  bank  -  note  engraving.  This 
teeming  activity  brings  with  it  a  commer- 
cial sameness  of  execution,  a  workmanlike, 
metallic  sleekness,  not  quite  absent  even 
in  the  charming  vignettes  of  John  Cheney, 
which  adorn  the  gift-books  of  the  forties 
and  fifties.  A  portrait  of  Chief  Justice  Mar- 
shall, engraved  by  Asher  Brown  Durand, 
after  Inman's  painting,  is  shown  as  an  illus- 
tration of  good  nineteenth  -  century  work. 
Generally  speaking,  portrait  engraving  had 
fallen  into  a  rut,  suggested  by  the  tonality 

117 


PRINTS 

of  photographs,  a  development  shared  by 
wood-engraving. 

The  ingenious  innovation  of  the  Enghsh- 
man  Thomas  Bewick  —  which  rejuvenated 
and  refined  the  mishandled  and  discred- 
ited woodcut,  by  substituting  cross-grained 
blocks  of  boxwood  and  the  graver,  for  planks 
and  the  knife  —  was  championed  in  Amer- 
ica by  Dr.  iVlexander  Anderson.  None  of 
the  early  American  wood-engravers  were  en- 
dowed with  great  artistic  gifts,  but  ere  long 
the  steady  demand  by  publishers  brought  to 
the  fore  men  of  acknowledged  ability.  Their 
achievements  are  plentifully  illustrated  in 
books  and  magazines;  the  "Still-life  with 
the  Peacock,"  engraved  by  W.  J.  Linton, 
a  well-known  writer  on  wood-engraving,  is 
reproduced  here  as  a  reminder  of  their  skill. 
Originally  the  tendency  of  wood-engraving, 
or  white-line  engraving,  as  it  is  sometimes 
called,  had  been  to  obtain  effects  by  white 
lines  (the  natural  expression  of  the  graver 
on  the  black  surface  of  the  block)  and  by 

118 


CHIEF  JUSTICE  MARSHALL 
Aslier  Brown  Duraud 


STILL-LIFE  WITH  THE   PEACOCK 
Wood-engraving.     W.  J.  Linton 


THE   UNITED   STATES 

black  and  white  masses.  As  the  wood-en- 
graver grew  proficient  in  his  technique,  he 
widened  his  field  by  imitating  the  eft'ect  of 
etching  or  engraving  on  copper,  in  rivalry 
with  this  form  of  illustration.  In  this  he 
succeeded  so  well  that  the  other,  more  ex- 
pensive modes  of  adornment  were  largely 
driven  from  the  field  of  book  illustration. 
With  the  advent  of  photography,  the  de- 
sign could  be  fixed  upon  the  wood  block 
mechanically,  accurately,  without  the  trou- 
ble of  a  careful  drawing.  The  values  of  tone 
in  the  photograph  relieved  the  engraver 
from  the  work  of  translating  col  or- values 
into  black  and  white.  The  blending  half- 
tones of  the  photograph  invited  close  imi- 
tation, and  thus  tone-engraving  developed, 
with  its  masses  of  fine  lines,  close  together, 
merging  into  tone.  Beautiful  results  were 
achieved  in  this  way  by  men  like  Jlingling, 
French,  Timothy  Cole,  Wolf,  and  many 
other  engravers;  but  soon  the  human  hand 
was   dispossessed   altogether   by  the   half- 

119 


PRINTS 

tone  plate  which  makes  the  photographic 
image  printable  by  mechanical  means  alone. 
The  great  European  revival  of  etching 
extended  to  the  United  States  in  the  seven- 
ties. It  proved  a  fruitful  period,  with  names 
like  the  Morans,  Ferris,  Farrar,  Duveneck, 
Charles  Piatt,  and  many  others  which  might 
be  mentioned.  The  vogue  of  etching,  it  will 
be  remembered,  was  short  because  medi- 
ocrities soon  glutted  the  market  and  sent 
purchasers  to  other  fields  for  a  while.  Inter- 
est in  the  process  has  awakened  again  of  late, 
but  that  is  matter  of  too  recent  date  to  be 
discussed  in  these  few  pages. 


X 

THE    NINETEENTH    CENTURY 

From  a  survey  of  prints  in  their  varying 
national  aspects,  we  have  arrived  now  at 
that  vast  period  of  an  art  increasingly  cos- 
mopolitan, the  nineteenth  century.  In  these 
last  hundred  years  nationality  has  blended 
together  to  a  great  extent;  travel  is  not  the 
serious  matter  of  former  times,  a  pastime 
rather  than  a  venture;  all  races  have  inter- 
mingled in  the  great  world-centers;  students 
from  far  and  near  congregate  in  the  centers 
of  art.  All  these  factors,  and  many  others, 
contribute  in  making  artistic  expression 
individual,  less  and  less  national  in  charac- 
ter. No  sudden  phase,  this,  rather  an  insen- 
sible general  trend  toward  individuality  as 
the  great  requisite  in  an  artist's  work.  The 
masterpieces  of  the  fine  arts  had  been  inter- 
preted by  means  of  prints  since  the  sixteenth, 
and  especially  since  the  advent  of  the  "clas- 

121 


PRINTS 

sical"  engravers  in  the  eighteenth,  century. 
The  increasing  number  of  these  reproductive 
prints  made  it  ever  easier  for  an  artist  to 
acquaint  himself,  in  a  way,  with  the  great 
achievements  of  the  past.  Finally  photogra- 
phy, and  in  its  wake  the  photo-mechanical 
processes,  brought  a  flood  of  exact  docu- 
ments invalualjle  for  study,  a  lure  to  imita- 
tion for  the  unimaginative  or  indolent,  a 
spur  to  the  real  artist,  helpful  in  forming 
his  ow^n  powers. 

Individuality  seems  the  keynote  of  the 
nineteenth  century;  hence  it  may  be  as  well 
not  to  bind  ourselves  to  headings  and  subdi- 
visions, but  rather  to  roam  at  large  through 
this  enormous  sphere.  Goya,  of  whom  we 
spoke  in  a  preceding  chapter,  belongs  here 
by  right,  and  with  Fortuny  forms  the  Span- 
ish contingent  in  the  new  awakening  of  the 
graphic  arts.  In  England  there  lived,  about 
the  turn  of  the  century,  a  visionary  poet  and 
great  artist,  William  Blake,  who  fluently 
expressed  himself   in   strangely  fascinating 

TOO 


'^    "    *  v* 


K- 


^*"1A 


PLATE  FROM   THE  BOOK   OF  JOB 
William  Blake 


THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY 

compositions  of  religious  or  fantastic  im- 
port, doubtless  familiar  to  us  all.  Our  con- 
cern is  not  with  Blake's  drawings,  in  which 
he  adds  the  charm  of  exquisite  color  to  his 
command  of  expressive  form.  A  plate  taken 
from  his  remarkable  series  of  illustrations  to 
the  Book  of  Job,  shows  his  powerful,  poetic 
conception  of  the  beginning  of  life,  when  the 
world  was  young  and  the  morning  stars  sang 
together.  In  a  totally  different  way,  illus- 
trative of  another  phase  of  this  same  new 
awakening,  the  w  ork  of  Daniel  Chodowiecki 
shows  a  man  concerned  with  the  world  which 
surrounds  him.  We  see  him  here,  at  work  in 
the  midst  of  his  family,  on  his  little  illustra- 
tions which  went  forth  in  their  hundreds  to 
embellish  the  bountiful  stream  of  German 
literature. 

Goya's  vivid,  realistic  allegories,  Blake's 
fantastic,  powerful  conceptions,  Chodowiec- 
ki's  living  portrayal  of  the  world  of  his  day, 
no  longer  follow  the  beaten  track  of  imi- 
tative work,  —  all  these  activities  point  to  a 

123 


PRINTS 

new  phase  in  art.  All  this  seems  a  reaction,  a 
protest  against  the  mental  attitude,  the  set 
standards  and  ideals  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury. The  vignette,  so  gay  and  graceful  in 
the  hands  of  p]isen,  Gravelot,  or  Moreau, 
had  lost  much  of  its  esprit  in  the  heavier, 
more  sober  style  of  the  Empire.  The  classi- 
cal engraver  was  still  in  power,  on  the  Con- 
tinent as  well  as  in  England,  where  Boydell 
issued,  in  1803,  his  monumental  series  of 
illustrations  to  Shakespeare's  plays  in  large 
folio  plates.  On  the  other  hand.  Constable 
had  broken  away  from  the  accepted  stand- 
ards of  landscape  composition;  he  painted 
his  native  countryside  as  he  saw  it.  Eng- 
land frowned  upon  him  for  this  heresy,  but 
his  art  was  joyfully  acclaimed  in  France. 
There  arises  everywhere  a  buoyant,  youthful 
spirit,  conscious  of  infinite  possibilities,  filled 
with  unbounded  aspirations.  The  leaders  in 
the  movement  emancipate  themselves  from 
the  sterile  cult  of  precedent;  they  blaze  new 
trails  into  the  vast  unknown,  in  their  search 

124 


H 


r       "O 

Kl      O 

o  3 


EC 
H 


THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY 

for  truth.  Kant's  philosophy,  Darwin's  the- 
ory of  evolution,  sufficiently  denote  the 
trend  of  the  times;  in  literature,  this  is  the 
period  of  Byron,  Scott,  Wordsworth,  of 
Manzoni,  of  Goethe,  of  Nodier,  Balzac,  Vic- 
tor Hugo.  Barrye  carries  realism  into  his 
sculpture  and  such  men  as  Delacroix,  De- 
camps, and  Celestin  Nanteuil  carry  roman- 
ticism into  French  painting  and  French 
prints.  Men,  these,  whose  imaginative  souls 
rebel  against  petrified  classicism  and  formal, 
abstract  beauty,  and  this  protest  of  the 
young  and  ardent  against  the  tyranny  of  the 
"old  and  accepted  order  of  things"  has  been 
heard  ever  since,  —  sometimes  the  voice 
of  coteries,  sometimes  that  of  individu- 
als: Constable's,  for  instance,  which  helped 
France  in  its  remarkable  awakening.  His 
simple  creed  was  faithfully  transposed  in 
terms  of  mezzotint  by  David  Lucas.  Unfor- 
tunately these  effective  landscape  mezzo- 
tints are  so  fleeting  in  their  delicate  effects 
that  they  can  be  appreciated  only  in  en- 

125 


PRINTS 

graver's  proofs.  The  relative  position  of 
Constable  and  Turner,  in  English  land- 
scape, has  been,  not  inaptly,  compared  with 
that  of  Van  Dyck  and  Rubens  in  Flemish 
art.  Certainly  J.  M.  W.  Turner  was  a  sun 
in  the  English  firmament,  the  painter  of  im- 
posing canvases  and  water-colors  of  haunt- 
ing loveliness;  the  leader  likewise  in  a 
stupendous  development  of  landscape  en- 
graving revealed  in  series  like  his  "England 
and  Wales"  and  his  vignettes  for  "Roger's 
Italy"  among  others  of  equal  fame.  Su- 
preme among  his  prints  stands  a  set  know^n 
as  "Liber  Studiorum,"  undertaken  in  rivalry 
with  Claude  Lorrain,  whose  memoranda 
sketches  of  pictures  painted  constitute  the 
"Liber  Veritatis,"  engraved  subsequently 
in  England  by  Earlom.  In  his  "Liber"  ^ 
Turner  proceeds  to  display  his  art  in  all  its 
versatility,  engraving    some  of    the  plates 

'  A  series  of  one  hundred  plates,  seventy-one  of  which 
were  published  by  the  artist,  then  discontinued,  because 
financially  unsuccessful. 

126 


OS  -^i 

>^  "a 

05  .2 

»  CO 


a 


^3 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

himself  and  closely  supervising  the  mezzo- 
tinting of  the  others.  This  "Inverary  Pier," 
his  own  throughout,  is  a  glorious  vision  of 
morning  on  the  shores  of  Loch  Fyne.  The 
night  mists  are  clearing  in  the  sunlight;  a 
luminous  haze  still  trails  along  between  the 
hills,  beyond  the  quiet  water.  The  scene 
suggests  unbounded  space  and  calm,  peace- 
ful beauty.  Another  plate,  "iEsacus  and 
Hesperie,"  carries  us  into  the  depth  of  the 
woods.  The  figures  are  mere  accessories: 
what  we  potently  feel  is  the  fragrant  shade, 
emphasized  by  a  slanting  shaft  of  sunlight, 
which  gleams  on  soil,  branch,  and  leaf,  and 
builds  a  pathway  of  light  amidst  the  lumi- 
nous shadows. 

In  the  early  nineteenth  century  two  new 
processes  demand  recognition :  wood-engrav- 
ing and  lithography.  The  former,  reviewed 
in  the  preceding  chapter  with  reference  to  its 
development  in  America,  speedily  gained  in 
technical  perfection  at  the  hands  of  English 

1^27 


PRINTS 

engravers.  It  spread  far  and  wide  in  Europe, 
adapting  itself  to  the  charming  iUustrations 
of  Ludwig  Richter  and  doing  full  justice  to 
the  expressive,  accurate  line  of  Adolph  von 
Menzel's  pen-and-ink  work.  Light  and  vi- 
vacious in  the  vignettes  of  Tony  Johannot, 
Gigoux,  Celestin  Nanteuil,  it  grows  somber 
in  Dore's  designs  for  the  Bible  and  for 
Dante's  "Divina  Commedia." 

Shortly  after  the  advent  of  wood-engrav- 
ing, lithography  appears,  and  offers  the 
tempting  inducement  of  utmost  technical 
simplicity  to  the  artist.  The  drawing  is  made 
on  the  stone  or  on  transfer  paper  with  litho- 
graphic ink  or  crayon;  the  transferring  and 
preparation  of  the  stone  (or  metal  plate) 
with  acid,  gum,  and  water  is  left  to  the 
printer.  No  wonder  that  the  process  found 
wide  favor  and  that  it  was  put  to  a  great  va- 
riety of  uses:  innumerable  portraits,  endless 
series  of  views,  costume  plates,  music  titles, 
reproductions  of  pictures.  In  the  hands  of 
artists  the  process  proves  its  merit  by  such 

128 


M 

a 

o 

O 
O 
G 

w 


X 
H 


J3 


•/i 

3 


1^ 


^  s 

o 
o 

H 
S4 


THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY 

prints  as  "Christ  Disputing  with  the  Doc- 
tors," by  Adolph  von  Menzel,  that  untiring 
pioneer  of  reahsm  in  Germany.  The  scene 
with  its  masterly  characterization  is  aston- 
ishing in  the  play  of  expression  on  each  face 
and  figure.  In  France  both  processes  burst 
into  profuse  bloom  with  the  awakening  of 
romanticism.  The  thirties  and  forties  bring 
a  wealth  of  notable  lithographic  produc- 
tions, the  work  of  Delacroix,  Isabey,  Geri- 
cault.  Decamps,  Diaz,  and  a  host  of  other 
artists.  Gavarni  uses  this  easy  medium  to 
portray  in  thousands  of  sketches  the  life  of 
all  Paris.  Daumier  portrays  the  frailties  of 
humanity  in  his  cartoons  for  "Charivari" 
and  "La  Caricature,"  or  else  wields  his 
crayon  as  a  formidable  political  weapon;  in 
the  print  selected  for  illustration  he  shows 
us  Louis  Philippe  at  the  death-bed  of  a  po- 
litical offender  "  who  can  now  be  released, 
being  no  longer  dangerous." 

The  fortunes  of  France,  fraught  with  con- 
quest  under   the   first   Napoleon,    sink   to 

129 


PRINTS 

humdrum  levels  with  the  Restoration.  For 
years  all  recollection  of  the  Emperor  and  his 
Grande  Armee  is  embittered  by  the  final  dis- 
aster. But  passing  years  restore  the  luster 
of  former  great  exploits,  and  gradually  these 
become  a  favorite  subject  for  illustration. 
The  field  is  well  covered  by  Charlet's  mili- 
tary scenes,  though  none  of  these  approach 
the  grandeur  and  skill  displayed  b}^  Auguste 
Raffet.  In  his  "Midnight  Review"  we  see 
innumerable  hosts  of  shades,  passing  in  re- 
view before  the  phantom  emperor  on  his 
white  charger;  an  immense  concourse  in- 
sensibly merging  into  the  mists  of  night. 

In  the  forties  there  is  a  welcome  revival  of 
etching,  Charles  Jacque  being  one  of  the  pio- 
neers, skillful  alike  in  his  handling  of  acid 
and  dry-point.  His  theme  is  the  peasant's 
life,  his  setting  the  wooded,  undulating  re- 
gion about  Barbizon:  broad,  sunny  fields, 
thriving  farms,  pastures  with  cattle,  sheep, 
and  pigs,  for  which  he  shows  an  especial 
predilection.  The  peasant,  here,  is  no  longer 

130 


F 


r. 


^ 

w 

*-i 

■M 

> 

,* 

& 

ti 

tf 

^ 

H 

o 

M 

a 

2 

3 
bo 

3 

WOMAN   CHURNING 
J.  F.  Millet 


THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY 

the  joyous,  carousing,  merry  being  of  Os- 
tade's  fancy.  In  the  plates  of  Millet  and 
Jacque  we  see  him  at  his  daily  labors  and 
the  woman  at  her  household  tasks,  as  in 
the  "Woman  Churning,"  by  Jean  Frangois 
Millet,  drawn  in  sober,  telling  lines,  and 
evoking  by  some  subtle  magic  a  sense  not 
only  of  the  scene  before  us,  but  of  her  sur- 
roundings and  her  whole  labor-laden  life. 

We  must  pass  with  a  mention  even  such 
masters  as  Corot  and  Daubigny,  both  of 
whom  have  left  us  spirited  examples,  in  etch- 
ing, of  their  masterly  interpretation  of  na- 
ture. The  period  we  now  reach  brings  a 
flood  of  etching,  and  it  is  but  natural  that 
the  sketchy  freedom,  the  suggestiveness 
sought  by  this  new  school,  should  conflict 
with  the  set,  time-honored  traditions  of  en- 
graving. That  serious  old  gentleman  —  En- 
graving —  did  not  approve  of  the  rollicking 
youngster  who  knocked  at  the  gates  of  the 
Academy  and  the  Institut  for  admission. 
The   battle,  after  all,  was   not  so  much  a 

131 


PRINTS 

quarrel  between  etching  and  engraving; 
rather  a  contest  between  formula  versus  orig- 
inal thought.  Both  in  England  and  France 
the  same  conflict  arose,  the  etchers  calling 
the  other  side  mechanical,  petrified;  the  en- 
gravers retorting  that  etching,  "even  in  the 
hands  of  Rembrandt,  is  uncertain,  blunder- 
ing." This  dictum  of  Ruskin  and  the  fiery 
rejoinder  by  Sir  Seymour  Haden  are  mat- 
ters of  history.  Our  illustration,  the  dry- 
point  "Sunset  in  Ireland,"  will  sufficiently 
show  that  the  president  of  the  Painter- 
Etchers'  Society  was  as  apt  with  the  etch- 
ing-point as  he  was  formidable  in  debate. 
The  painter-etcher  is  an  originating  artist, 
but  the  success  of  his  creations  on  the  cop- 
per depends  a  good  deal  on  the  skill  of  the 
printer,  who  can,  by  differences  of  inking, 
wiping,  pressure,  and  heat  make  an  impres- 
sion hard  or  soft  in  effect,  rich  and  dark  or 
pale  and  silvery  at  wish.  To  a  inan  of  James 
McNeill  Whistler's  exquisite  sensibilities 
and  refined  taste  this  thought  of  depend- 

132 


Q 

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n 

-s; 

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hj 

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H 
K 

K 

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M 

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L4 

■A 

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& 

O! 

L_. 


■  ^'v^  "^^•vT'^wmaKmimt 


THE   DOORWAY.     VENICE 
James  McNeill  Whistler 


LE   PETIT   PONT 
Charles  Meryon 


THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY 

ence  on  another  for  his  subtle  effects  of  light 
and  tone  could  not  but  prove  unendurable. 
Therefore  he  installed  a  press  at  his  home 
and  did  his  own  printing  of  choice  impres- 
sions, realizing  in  these,  to  the  fullest  extent, 
the  possibilities  of  effectiveness  and  beauty 
which  we  admire  in  his  etchings.  Art  has 
been  defined  as  a  selection  from  the  truth, 
and,  indeed,  the  elimination  of  unimportant 
detail  and  the  accenting  of  the  essentials 
make  for  the  great  charm  in  Whistler's  etch- 
ings as  well  as  in  his  numerous  lithographs. 
From  this  versatile  genius,  delightful  in  his 
rendering  of  the  human  figure  and  likeness, 
who  evokes  with  equal  facility  the  shimmer- 
ing vistas  of  Venetian  lagoons  or  the  quaint- 
ness  of  an  old  French  street,  who  can  fas- 
cinate with  a  fleeting  glimpse  of  a  fish-shop, 
or  make  a  lovely  vision  of  a  foggy  reach  of 
the  Thames,  we  must  now  turn  to  one  who 
has  forever  fixed  in  his  plates  a  truthful  yet 
ideal  likeness  of  old  Paris.  "Le  Petit  Pont" 
by  Charles  Meryon  is  a  characteristic  plate 

133 


PRINTS 

with  heavy  shadows,  fine  feehng  for  struc- 
tural essentials,  endless  modifications  of 
liiiht,  and  with  Notre  Dame  made  duly  im- 
pressive  by  lifting  it  high  above  the  nearer 
buildings.  Every  plate  has  a  character  of  its 
own,  with  here  and  there  a  weird  reminder 
of  the  artist's  ultimate  mental  doom.  Only 
a  poet  could  have  conceived  a  plate  like 
the  "Stryge,"  that  evil  figure  on  Notre 
Dame,  surveying  the  vast  field  of  his  con- 
quests. 

xA.s  we  survey  the  reproductive  processes, 
they  are  drawn,  one  and  all,  into  the  cur- 
rent of  new,  original  expression.  Innovators 
appear  even  in  the  conservative  camp  of  en- 
graving; Ferdinand  Gaillard,  for  instance,  an 
engraver,  in  that  he  uses  the  graver,  though 
he  uses  it  in  a  manner  to  him  particular,  ex- 
pressive of  minutest  detail.  "My  aim,"  he 
says,  "is  not  to  charm  but  to  be  truthful. 
My  art  consists  in  saying  all."  And  he  ex- 
presses "all"  in  this  wonderful  portrait  of 


DOM  PROSPER  GUERANGER 
Ferdinand  Gaillard 


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GIRL   BATHING 
Anders  Zorn 


EXPULSION   FROM   PARADISE 
From  "Eva  und  die  Zukunft."     Max  Klinger 


THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

Dom  Prosper  Gueranger.  No  detail  has 
escaped  him  in  his  scrutiny  of  this  strong, 
bright  face  with  its  searching,  clear  eyes. 
A  counterpart  of  Gaillard  —  a  painter-en- 
graver similarly  minute  and  precise  with  his 
burin  — is  Stauffer-Bern,  a  Swiss  of  German 
training. 

Now,  if  we  compare  a  print  of  the  early 
times  with  the  technical  creations  of  our 
present  day,  we  cannot  but  realize  the  in- 
creased demands  made  upon  the  artist.  The 
phenomena  of  light  must  be  ever  studied 
anew,  in  the  endeavor  to  attain  new,  effec- 
tive, convincing  ways  of  expression  —  not 
merely  of  color  and  form  as  heretofore,  but 
of  atmosphere,  of  light,  of  vibrating,  living, 
I  had  almost  said  "  moving, "  nature.  Hence 
impressionism;  hence,  also,  daring  experi- 
ments like  this  girl  bathing,  by  Anders  Zorn, 
the  Swedish  painter-etcher.  Here  is  a  dis- 
tinct outdoor  feeling;  the  breeze  and  sun, 
the  modeling  of  rock,  and  the  softly  rounded 
nude  body  against  its  hard   face.    Every- 

135 


PRINTS 

thing  is  done  with  long,  slashing  strokes, 
with  hardly  any  definite  outline;  a  w^onder- 
ful  display  of  skill.  Another  illustration,  the 
"Expulsion  from  Paradise,"  by  that  Ger- 
man master  of  many  arts,  Max  Klinger, 
shows  us  an  effect  of  most  intense  expres- 
sion of  light  in  the  glaring  foreground,  where 
a  merciless  sun  beats  down  on  the  first 
couple:  a  world  all  the  more  arid  by  con- 
trast with  the  cool,  shady  woodland  behind 
the  huge,  guarded  gateway. 

The  nearer  we  approach  to  the  present 
day,  the  more  difficult,  even  painful,  be- 
comes the  work  of  selection ;  painful  because 
of  the  many  gems  barred  from  inclusion  by 
the  necessary  restriction  of  space.  A  longer 
review,  including  men  like  Lalanne,  Legros, 
Lepere,  Schmutzer,  Geyger,  Munch,  Lieber- 
mann,  Bone,  Cameron,  Bauer,  would  needs 
have  to  include  many  others,  and  dispropor- 
tionately swell  this  closing  chapter. 

If  the  few  prints  mentioned  —  a  very 
few  picked  from  a  field  immensely  rich  — 

136 


THE   NINETEENTH   CENTURY 

should  awaken  in  the  reader  a  desire  for 
further  exploration  in  this  world  of  prints, 
the  purpose  of  these  pages  will  have  been 
achieved. 


THE    END 


I 


Books  Recommended  for  Study  of  Prints 

To  those  bent  on  further  inquiry  into  the  subject 
of  prints,  two  books  of  prime  importance  can  be  most 
warmly  recommended,  namely :  — 

Hind,  Arthur  M.  A  Short  History  of  Engraving  and 
etching,  with  full  bibliography,  classified  list  and 
index  of  engravers.  Boston,  Houghton  Mifflin  Co., 
1908. 

(An  excellent,  comprehensive  book,  with  exhaustive 
lists  and  indexes,  dealing  with  intaglio  prints  up  to  the 
present  day.) 

Kristeller,  Paid.  Kupferstich  und  Holzschnitt  in 
vier  Jahrhunderten.   Berlin,  Bruno  Cassirer,  1905. 

(A  masterly  review  of  the  whole  field  of  prints,  in- 
cluding woodcuts,  but  unfortunately  exclusive  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  This  also  contains  an  extensive 
bibliography.) 

The  careful  perusal  of  either  book  will  provide  a 
good  foundation,  and  the  excellent  lists  of  books  at 
the  end  of  each  of  them  will  safely  guide  the  reader 
in  his  subsequent  studies. 


^ht  CtiVicrsiDc  prcsiS 

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